<< YCBA Home Yale Center for British Art Yale Center for British Art << YCBA Home

YCBA Collections Search

 
IIIF Actions
Creator:
Print made by Edward Fisher, 1722–1785
after Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1723–1792
Title:
Lady Elizabeth Keppel and a Servant
Former Title(s):
Lady Elizabeth Keppel
Date:
1760s
Materials & Techniques:
Mezzotint on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 24 1/2 × 15 5/8 inches (62.2 × 39.7 cm), Plate: 23 5/8 × 14 5/8 inches (60 × 37.1 cm), Image: 23 3/8 × 14 1/2 inches (59.4 × 36.8 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Inscribed on verso in graphite, lower left: "u/t*"; lower center: "Mary of [...] "; lower right: "proof before all | letters £5.50"

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1970.3.178
Classification:
Prints
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
bust | crown | dresses | fire | flowers | garlands | goddess | incense | jewelry | kneeling | portrait | servant | statue | torch | tree
Associated People:
Hymen (god of marriage)
Keppel, Lady Elizabeth, Marchioness of Tavistock (1739–1768), bridesmaid to Queen Charlotte
Access:
Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details.
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:22069
Export:
XML
IIIF Manifest:
JSON

Reynolds’s “sitter-book” records eight appointments with Lady Keppel (1739–1768). The woman who accompanies her had two independent morning sittings in December 1761 (both after Keppel had been painted). We do not know her name, in place of which Reynolds entered a single word—“negro”—in his notebook. This terse archival trace confirms that she, like Lady Keppel, was painted from life. She is shown handing Keppel a garland of flowers with which to deck a statue of Hymen, the god of marriage. This detail alludes to Keppel’s recent role as a bridesmaid at the wedding of George III and Queen Charlotte. The dress worn by the servant may either be of glazed cotton, British silk, or possibly painted Chinese silk. If the woman was indeed Keppel’s servant, her dress may be a hand-me-down from her mistress, as was common in this period. The portrait (now at Woburn Abbey, UK) was exhibited at the Society of Artists as Whole length of a lady, one of her majesty’s bride maids. It was paid for by Lady Keppel’s brother, the third Earl of Albemarle (1724–1772). In 1762, shortly after the painting was finished, he would command British forces at the Battle of Havana, which resulted in Spain’s surrender of Cuba. This key victory of the Seven Years’ War reshaped the balance of power in the Atlantic. Gallery label for Figures of Empire: Slavery and Portraiture in Eighteenth-Century Atlantic Britain (Yale Center for British Art, 2014-10-02 - 2014-12-14)

Figures of Empire: Slavery and Portraiture in Eighteenth-Century Atlantic Britain (Yale Center for British Art, 2014-10-02 - 2014-12-14) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Slavery and Portraiture in 18th-century Atlantic Britain, [Website] , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2015, Available online https://interactive.britishart.yale.edu/slavery-and-portraiture/ [Website]


If you have information about this object that may be of assistance please contact us.