It has been claimed that this painting presents Dido and Elizabeth “more or less as social equals,” with both looking straight at the viewer (Butchart 6:10). Lord Mansfield was a staunch abolitionist, and stated clearly in his will that Dido was a free woman he also left an annuity of £100 to support her, much larger than her previous yearly allowance of £20 (English Heritage, Butchart 18:21). They are quoted in period sources as enjoying each other’s company it is clear that Dido was loved and accepted within his household (English Heritage). She was one year younger than Elizabeth.Įlizabeth and Dido were second cousins and lived together with their great-uncle Lord Mansfield. She eventually married after Murray’s death in 1793 to steward John Davinier and afterwards lived in London (English Heritage). Dido surely dealt with a great deal of prejudice throughout her life despite her sheltered position in the nobility. Slavery was not officially legal in England, but not only were Black people still bought and sold within its bounds, the country was neck-deep in the transatlantic slave trade (English Heritage, Waterfield 129). Given that she was born out of wedlock, she probably had to battle the twin obstacles of her illegitimacy and British prejudice against her skin color for her entire life. Dido’s father was British officer John Lindsay, who gave her into the care of his uncle William Murray at some point before her sixth birthday (English Heritage). She was born in England in 1761 to an African woman, Maria Bell(e), who had previously been enslaved in the Caribbean (Roulston 648). The sitter in the white gown to the left is Dido Elizabeth Belle. The average age of marriage at this time was in one’s mid-twenties, and indeed, Lady Murray married politician George Finch-Hatton in 1785 when she was twenty-five years old (Olsen 31). If this was indeed painted in 1778, Elizabeth would have been around eighteen years old if our analysis of her fashion is accurate, she is actually less than ten. She was sent to live in England with her uncle in 1766 after her mother died. Elizabeth was born in Poland in 1760 to Earl David Murray and his first wife Henrietta Frederica von Bünau. The sitter in the pink dress to the right is Lady Elizabeth Murray. Martin was commissioned to paint other members of the family, including Lady Margery Murray in the 1760s and William Murray, Lord Mansfield of Kenwood in the 1770s (Fig. His specialty lay in three-quarter-length portraits ( Fig. While his portraits, especially early ones, are similar in style to Ramsay’s work, his large compositions like this one derive from the work of Joshua Reynolds (hence the early attribution) (Grove). He worked with Ramsay until the latter died in 1784, at which point Martin moved to Edinburgh and made his name as the premier Scottish portraitist for the next ten years (Grove). 1) studied in Rome and London under painter Allan Ramsay and gained fame by painting the likes of American politician Benjamin Franklin and Scottish philosopher David Hume (Philip Mould). For reasons discussed in the next section (“About the Fashion: Lady Elizabeth Murray”), it more likely dates to a decade earlier. It was painted on the grounds of the Kenwood estate in Hampstead, with a bit of London on the horizon at bottom left, and is currently dated to c. It is in the grand manner style of portraiture, with an awe-inspiring background and a lifelike treatment of the sitters and their clothing. His portrait of two young women has been variously attributed to German artist Johan Zoffany and British artist Joshua Reynolds in 2018 it was freshly attributed to Scottish artist David Martin (1737-1798) based on style, sitter gesture, and fabric treatment (Scone Palace).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |