Lady Mary Booth, Countess of Stamford (1704 – 1772)
studio of Michael Dahl (Stockholm 1659 - London 1743)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1725 - 1772
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
737 x 609 mm (29 x 24 in)
Order this imageCollection
Dunham Massey, Cheshire
NT 932303
Caption
Mary Booth was the only daughter and heiress of George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington (1675-1758) and Mary Oldbury. In 1736 she married her cousin, Harry Grey, Lord Grey of Groby, later 4th Earl of Stamford (1715-1768). Dunham Massey thus passed to the Grey family. When the 2nd Earl of Warrington died in 1758, he bequeathed all his estates to his daughter and her successors. Trained by her father, it was she and not her husband who took up the reins of management of Dunham Massey. The books in the Library which bear Lady Mary’s bookplate suggest that she was something of a bluestocking, for they consist mainly of religious topics or poetry. However, she had a more attractive disposition than her father; her daughter-in-law described her in 1766 as ‘the Mistress of this House, whose greatest Joy is to make those belonging to her happy and easy.’
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Lady Mary Booth, Countess of Stamford (1704 – 1772), studio of Michael Dahl (Stockholm 1656/9 – London 1743), inscribed with name of sitter in white, bottom right (very rubbed): Mary Countess of Stamford / wife of Henry fourth Earl / of Stamford. A half-length portrait of a young woman, turned slightly to the right, gazing at the spectator, wearing a white chemise beneath a low-cut, dark blue dress and red velvet cloak lined with ermine draped on her left arm. Mary Booth was the wife of Harry Grey, 4th Earl of Stamford.
Provenance
Bequeathed to the National Trust with the house, estate and all the contents of Dunham Massey by Roger Grey, 10th Earl of Stamford (1896 - 1976)
Marks and inscriptions
(labelled)
Makers and roles
studio of Michael Dahl (Stockholm 1659 - London 1743), artist