Dorothy Mason, Lady Brownlow (1665-1699/1700)
John Riley (London 1646 – London 1691) and John Closterman (Osnabrück 1660 – London 1711)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1685 - 1688
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
2496 x 1520 x 81 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Belton House, Lincolnshire
NT 436004.2
Caption
This painting is one of the four 'verie large Pictures' that seem to have been in the Saloon at Belton since 1688. When Riley painted these pictures, he appears to have had the assistance of the recently-arrived John Closterman. He reputedly got £40 a full-length, painting only the heads himself, and giving Closterman just 30s (£1.50) for all the drapery Dorothy Mason was the daughter of Sir Richard Mason and Anna Margaretta Long (whose portraits are also at Belton). She was the first wife of Sir William Brownlow, 4th Bt. Her son, Sir John Brownlow (1690-1754), 5th Bt., was created Viscount Tyrconnel and Baron Charlveille in 1718, and her daughter Anne married Sir Richard Cust (1680-1734), 4th Bt of Pinchbeck. Described as 'really deserving everybody's love', she was commemorated after her premature death with a monument by William Stanton in the church of St Nicholas, Sutton, in Surrey. It was dismissed by Williams Hone as 'a sort of hasty pudding garnished with slices of gingerbread.’
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Dorothy Mason, Lady Brownlow (1665-1699/1700) by John Riley (1646-1691) and John Closterman (1660-1711), circa 1685/88. Inscribed, bottom right: LADY BROWNLOWE..../& MOTHER TO LORD TYRCON[NEL] RYLEY [FECT]. A full-length portrait of the daughter of Sir Richard Mason (c.1633-1685) and Anne Margaret Long (c.1637-1711) as a young woman, standing, gazing at the spectator, wearing a blue dress over a white bodice with a red mantle wrapped around her left arm and falling down on the right. She is standing by a fountain on the left and in her right hand she holds a shell with which is is about to scoop some water with her right hand. She was the wife of Sir William Brownlow and mother of John Brownlow, Viscount Tyrconnel. When Riley painted these 4 pictures (NT 436004.1-2 and 436005.1-2), he appears to have had the assistance of the recently-arrived John Closterman, and reputedly got £40 a full length, painting only the heads himself and giving Closterman just 30s (£1.50) for all the drapery. Described as 'really deserving everybody's love', her children were: Anne Brownlow (1694-17790), married Sir Richard Cust; Richard Brownlow (1689-1690), John Brownlow, 1st and last Viscount Tyrconnel (1690-1754) and Dorothy Brownlow (b.1695). She died before May 1700 when her will was probated. After her premature death, her sorrowing husband gave her an immense funeral procession and commemorated her with a monument by William Stanton (1639-1705) in St Nicholas Church, Sutton, in Surrey which was dismissed by William Hone as 'a sort of hasty pudding, garnished with slices of gingerbread'. The monument is now completely concealed by the church organ.The design for the monument is in the collection of the V&A Museum.
Provenance
Listed in the inventory of 1688; purchased with a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) from Edward John Peregrine Cust, 7th Baron Brownlow, C. St J. (b.1936) in 1984
Credit line
Belton House, The Brownlow Collection (acquired with the help of the National Heritage Memorial Fund by the National Trust in 1984)
Marks and inscriptions
Lady Brownlow/wife to Sir William and mother to Lord Tyrconnel/painted by Riley
Makers and roles
John Riley (London 1646 – London 1691) and John Closterman (Osnabrück 1660 – London 1711) , artist
Exhibition history
British Baroque: Power and Illusion, Tate Britain, London, 2020