Elizabeth Gunning, Duchess of Hamilton and Duchess of Argyll (1734 – 1790) (after Katherine Read)
Rebecca Dulcibella Orpen (1829/30 - 1923)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1850 - 1923
Materials
Oil on panel (oval)
Measurements
483 x 381 mm (19 x 15 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Baddesley Clinton, Warwickshire
NT 343143
Caption
Rebecca Dulcibella Orpen was a prolific and dedicated amateur painter. Her creative life allowed her to record her family lineage, honour the people and places that mattered to her, express her devotion to the Catholic faith, and create a sense of rich beauty in the interiors of her serene, moated home, Baddesley Clinton in Warwickshire. Orpen was born in County Cork, Ireland. It is likely that she was given some instruction in painting by her aunt Lady Georgiana Chatterton (1806–76), an experienced oil painter with whom Rebecca lived for most of her life. Orpen used oils, watercolours and pastels, and worked in a dress she had specially ordered (‘a plain warm dress for painting in’), so she didn’t need to worry about getting it dirty. A rare artist’s dummy or lay figure – a life-sized posable model used in the absence of a live one – now in the collection at Packwood House, Warwickshire, may have originally belonged to her (NT 557908). Orpen and Lady Chatterton planned the refurbishment of the Chapel at Baddesley Clinton, collaborating to create ornate triptych paintings, with Orpen painting the reredos behind the altar and scenes from the Rosary inspired by Old Master paintings. In the 1880s, as a way to refine her skills, Orpen was directly copying works at the National Gallery, London. Amateurs and professionals could apply to be a copyist at the Gallery for three months by sending the Keeper a written application and an example of their work. Orpen’s copy of Pietà after Francesco Francia remains in the collection at Baddesley Clinton (NT 343202). A different copy work is this version of Katherine Read’s pastel portrait of Elizabeth Gunning, made in about 1770 and later much reproduced in print. An expressive self-portrait shows Orpen presenting herself as an artist (NT 343187). She stands, mahlstick in hand, in her Painting Room at Baddesley Clinton, where she could take advantage of the light streaming in through the bay window. On the easel behind her is a view of her home from the north-east side, a view she returned to paint on several occasions. A portrait of her second husband, Edward Heneage Dering, hangs on the panelling to her left.
Summary
Oil painting on panel (oval), Elizabeth Gunning, Duchess of Hamilton and Duchess of Argyll (1734-1790) by Rebecca Dulcibella Orpen (1830-1923) after a Katherine Read of c.1770. Inscribed and signed on the verso. A head-and-shoulders portrait with the sitter turned slightly towards the left, looking out at the spectator. She wears a black cloak open around her shoulders and a white shawl underneath. A pink rose is pinned at her breast. The Duchess wears an elaborate frilled bonnet of white lace which is tied under her chin with a blue satin bow, the blue ribbon and frilled lace continuing to either side of the head. She is set against a plain, grey background.
Provenance
Acquired with the house through the National Land Fund and transferred to the National Trust in 1980
Credit line
Baddesley Clinton, The Ferrers Collection (acquired through the National Land Fund and transferred to the National Trust in 1980)
Makers and roles
Rebecca Dulcibella Orpen (1829/30 - 1923), artist after Katherine Read (Dundee 1723 – at sea 1779), artist
References
Conroy, Rachel, Women Artists and Designers at the National Trust, 2025, pp. 136-7