Portrait of Mrs. Fitzherbert
After Richard Cosway

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Fitzherbert
Fitzherbert Fitzherbert
Richard Cosway, R.A. (c. 1742-1821) (after)
John Condé (engraver)
Mrs. Fitzherbert
Paris: Late 18th Century (restruck late 19th Century)
Color printed stipple engraving
19.75 x 15.5 inches, overall
16 x 13 inches, plate mark
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.

Genre portrait of Mrs. Maria Anne Fitzherbert (1756-1837). This beautiful and aristocratic young woman in elegant sky blue and gold dress sits with her dog in a wooded area, casually holding a book. The portrait is set within a printed ruled border. Mrs. Fitzherbert was involved in a tumultuous long-term affair with George IV. When George was the Prince of Wales, he became obsessed by her and wrote her a 35-page marriage proposal. She married him in 1785, but the marriage was legally invalid under the Act of Settlement because she was a Roman Catholic and the couple did not have royal consent. George later denied that they had married but remained in love with her. After his marriage to Princess Caroline in 1795, he sent her a letter threatening suicide and she was granted permission by the Pope to resume the affair. The relationship continued until 1811, when the Prince Regent had fallen in love with Lady Jersey. The archives in Windsor Castle hold their wedding license, the marriage proposal letter and George's will, in which he leaves a shilling to the Princess of Wales and bequeaths his entire estate to his "true wife," Mrs. Fitzherbert. Cosway's original portrait is in the Oliver Collection at the University of London Library Depository at Royal Holloway.

Richard Cosway was a leading 18th century English miniature painter. Raised in Tiverton, England, his artistic talent showed itself early, and he was sent to London to study art when he was 12 years old, mainly tutored by William Shipleys until he struck out on his own at around age 18. Cosway was one of the earliest members of the Royal Academy, attaining the status of Royal Academician in 1771. His portrait of Mrs. Fitzherbert launched his successful career, bringing him the patronage of George IV, then Prince of Wales. Soon he was one of the most popular artists of the day, amassing enough wealth to lead an aristocratic lifestyle, in the words of Samuel Redgrave, "His miniatures were not only fashionable, but the fashion itself." He painted miniatures of many members of the royal family and court of the prince regent, including a well-known miniature of Madame du Barry in 1791. In 1781 he married Maria Hadfield Cosway, a miniature painter herself as well as a genre painter and etcher, who also exhibited at the Royal Academy up to 1801. After his death, she founded a school for girls in Italy was made baroness of the empire in recognition of her devotion to girls' education. Her college still exists, and holds an archive of their personal effects. Cosway's portraits were engraved by Bartolozzi and others, and his miniature paintings and oils reside today in the royal collection at Windsor Castle and elsewhere.

John (or Jean) Condé (1767-1794) was a French-born engraver and draftsman active in the late 18th century. He is known for his portraits after Richard Cosway of Mrs. Bonverie, Mrs. Fitzherbert and Mrs. Tickell.

References:

"Richard Cosway." The 1911 Edition Encyclopedia. http://3.1911encyclopedia.org/C/CO/COSWAY_RICHARD.htm (15 April 2004).

Redgrave, Samuel. A Dictionary of Artists of the English School: Painters, Sculptors, Architects, Engravers and Ornamentists. London: Longmans, Green, and Col. , 1874. pp. 97-98 (Richard and Maria Cosway)

Williamson, George C., ed. Bryan 's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers. London: G. Bell and Sons: 1930. Vol. 1, p. 319 (Condé)

Wintour, Joan. "Oliver Collection." 15 January 2002. S.A. Oliver Charitable Settlement. http://www.rhbnc.ac.uk/~uhyl007/robweb.htm (15 April 2004).