£400
THOMAS PHILLIPS, RA (1770-1845). Follower of. PORTRAIT OF MARY FRANCES FITZGERALD (1779-1855), MOTHER OF THE POET EDWARD FITZGERALD. Seated half length, wearing a russet dress and ochre mantle, seated upon a sofa, a swag and pillar beyond, distant landscape, oil on panel
34 x 28cm.
Provenance: By descent in the family of the sitter. The sitter inherited the estate of Naseby in Northamptonshire and was renowned for her beauty as much as her wealth. She married her cousin John Purcell and, conventionally, took his surname until 1818. In that year, her husband changed his own surname to Fitzgerald whereupon she became Mrs John Fitzgerald. Her son, Edward (1809-1883), who translated `The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam` in 1859, disliked it: `I somehow detest my own scrolloping surname`. *Condition: Some slight craquelure; needs a light clean; slight paint separation on sitter's right hip.
Fees apply to the hammer price:
Free Registration
33.6% inc VAT*
Flat Fee Registration
30.00% inc VAT*
