Joanna Granville, Mrs Richard Thornhill, later Lady Thornhill (1635-1709)
studio of John Michael Wright (bap. London 1617 - London 1694)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1666
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
648 x 825 mm (25½ x 32½ in)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Lacock, Wiltshire
NT 996305
Caption
This portrait bears many similarities to another by Wright of Anne, Countess of Carlisle, shown grief-stricken by the loss of her husband and two children. Lady Thornhill shares the same let-down hair and loosened garments, but the picture was painted too late to mark the death of her husband in 1656. Instead it seems possible that it was painted to mark her appointment as Dresser to the Queen, a role which she held from 1666 until 1692 when the Queen left England. Moreover, Lady Thornhill was reportedly badly-treated by her husband, but not so much that she would not wish to be buried next to her ‘late beloved husband.’ John Michael Wright was a popular portraitist amongst Catholic families. The pose of resting the head on hand became popular after Lely’s use of it in his portrait of Barbara Villiers of about 1662 at Knole (NT).
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Joanna Granville, Mrs Richard Thornhill, later Lady Thornhill (1635-1709) by John Michael Wright and studio (London 1617 - London 1694), circa 1666. After her husband’s death, when her brother John was created 1st Earl of Bath in 1661, she was given the title and precedence of an earl’s daughter. This is a replica of a portrait in the Granville Collection at Chadley.
Provenance
Given by Matilda Theresa Talbot (formerly Gilchrist-Clark) (1871 – 1958), who gave the Abbey, the village of Lacock and the rest of the estate to the National Trust in 1944, along with 96 of the family portraits and other pictures, in 1948
Credit line
Lacock Abbey, The Talbot Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
studio of John Michael Wright (bap. London 1617 - London 1694), artist John Michael Wright (bap. London 1617 - London 1694), artist