Lady Constance Harriet Mahonesa Talbot, Marchioness of Lothian (1836-1901)
Lady Alice Mary Kerr (d.1892)
Category
Photographs
Date
1870
Materials
Paper
Measurements
248 x 195 mm
Order this imageCollection
Blickling Hall, Norfolk
NT 353627
Summary
Albumen print with hand applied charcoal and watercolour. Lady Constance Harriet Mahonesa Talbot, Marchioness of Lothian (1836-1901), widow of the 8th Marquess. Black and white photograph, circa 1870 by Lady Alice Gaysford or Gaisford. Signed 'Faithfully yours Con Lothian' on mount at bottom centre. Inscribed on back of frame 'Lady Alice Gaysford'. Carved wooden frame with gilt slip, mounted and glazed.
Full description
Alice Kerr was the sister of the 8th Marquess of Lothian and a sense of dual mourning pervades this dignified yet ethereal image of his widow. Constance is shown in mourning dress of black, with pleated crape falling from a bodice of black silk. A patron of the arts, following her husband’s death Constance commissioned his memorial from G. F. Watts for St Andrew’s Church at Blickling. She continued their extensive work to the Hall by designing the elaborate sunken terraced parterre. A benefactor to the local community, building the village school in 1868, she was also a noted campaigner for nursing reform. The sisters-in-law had family connections to the photographer Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) and were doubtless familiar with his work. The photograph may have been intended as a gift as it is signed on the mount ‘faithfully yours / Con Lothian’.
Provenance
Part of the Lothian Collection. The hall and contents were bequeathed to the National Trust by Philip, 11th Marquess of Lothian (1882-1940).
Marks and inscriptions
Lady Lothian (signed on front)
Makers and roles
Lady Alice Mary Kerr (d.1892), photographer