Caroline Conolly, Countess of Buckinghamshire (c.1755 - 1817)
Thomas Gainsborough RA (Sudbury 1727 - London 1788)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1784
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
2330 x 1458 mm
Order this imageCollection
Blickling Hall, Norfolk
NT 355540
Caption
The sitter was the daughter of William Conolly of Castletown and his first wife, Lady Anne Wentworth. She married the 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire, the subject of Gainsborough’s companion portrait, in 1770. They had one surviving child, Amelia, who married the 2nd Marquess of Londonderry. This picture and its companion, along with six other pictures were submitted to the 1784 Royal Academy exhibition. Gainsborough threatened to withdraw all pictures if they were hung too high, a threat which he carried out. He never again exhibited at the Academy.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Caroline Conolly, Countess of Buckinghamshire (c.1755 - 1817) by Thomas Gainsborough RA (Sudbury 1727 - London 1788), 1784. A full-length portrait of the second wife of the 2nd Earl, painted in white court dress and gold sash, with gilt embroidered skirt, and white train, with her right elbow resting on state robes of red velvet ermine-trimmed cloak and coronet behind her. Two black wristbands, black shoes, pearl necklace. Grey powdered hair. Green curtain with tassels behind her with landscape in background.
Provenance
Bequeathed with the hall and contents by Philip,11th Marquess of Lothian (1882-1940)
Credit line
Blickling Hall, The Lothian Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Thomas Gainsborough RA (Sudbury 1727 - London 1788) Solomon Hudson (fl. 1780 - 1793) , furniture supplier
Exhibition history
Vicereines of Ireland: Portraits of Forgotten Women, Dublin Castle, Ireland, 2021
References
Campbell 2021: Myles Campbell (ed.), Vicereines of Ireland: Portraits of Forgotten Women (exh. cat.), Dublin Castle, 15 August 2021 - 5 September 2021, pp. 238-239, no.10