Lady Catherine Hyde, Duchess of Queensberry (1700-1777) as a Milkmaid
Charles Jervas (Dublin 1675 – London 1739)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1725 - 1730
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1370 x 1070 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 485090
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Lady Catherine Hyde, Duchess of Queensberry (1700-1777) as a Milkmaid by Charles Jervas (Dublin 1675 – London 1739), circa 1725/30. A three-quarter length portrait of a young woman, standing, facing, head three-quarters left, gazing at the spectator, her right hand is on a milk pail, with a large black hat in her left hand. She is wearing a buff dress, white apron and a cap. She was the second daughter of Henry, Earl of Clarendon and Rochester, and of Jane Leveson Gower, his wife, was born 10th February, 1700, and married to the Duke of Queensbury in 1719. In 1727, she warmly espoused the cause of the poet Gay, the success of whose play, ‘The Beggar’s Opera’ caused such offence in high quarters, that the second part was forbidden. She wrote an insolent letter to the Court, resigned her place, and Gay became the inmate of the Duke’s house until his death. The Duchess was celebrated for her wit, her beauty, and her eccentricity. She was the theme of verse to Pope, Prior, Gay and Whitehead. She is Kitty of Prior’s ‘Female Phaeton’: To many a Kitty, Love his car Would for a day engage; But Prior’s Kitty ever fair Obtained it for an age.
Provenance
on loan from the Egremont Private Collection
Credit line
Petworth House, The Egremont Collection
Makers and roles
Charles Jervas (Dublin 1675 – London 1739), artist