THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH

Anne Harley, Lady Rodney (1758-1840)

Martha Harley, Mrs. George Drummond (1757-1788)

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It has been said, and I agree with it, that Gainsborough was at his best when portraying women. There is a certain charm that enhances their beauty, the poses are always elegant and yet casual. He enjoyed the challenge presented by their glamorous dresses and their precious fabrics which he rendered with the same skill and flair as his admired van Dyck. The portraits shown here are a perfect example of the aforementioned.

The sitter in the first portrait (Philadelphia Museum of Art = 127 x 101 cm) has been identified as Anne (1758-1840), the second daughter of the Rt. Hon. Thomas Harley (1730-1804) who was alderman of the city of London, Lord Major of London in 1768 and brother of the Earl of Oxford. On April 10, 1781, she married Lord Rodney’s eldest son, George, a captain in the 3^rd Foot Guards and a member of Parliament for Northampton.

Anne’s gesture and pose may help us to date her portrait more precisely. The first of her many children, George, was born in June, 1782, so she became pregnant in September 1781. If we assume that she was with child at the time she sat to Gainsborough her gestures become significant and graceful. She rests her hand on her midriff, while her left hand touches her breast, a gesture by which, perhaps, she alludes to her condition, while at the same time cleverly concealing with the train of her gown her enlarged abdomen.

This is one of a pair of portraits commissioned by Alderman Harley of two of his daughters. The pendant (Private coll. = 126 x 100 cm) shows the eldest daughter, Martha (1757-1788) who, on November 30, 1779, married George Drummond of Stanmore. Both sisters are dressed in modified van Dyck’s costume: identical low-cut blue silk gowns with white muslin sleeves, edged with gold and trimmed at the bust and waist with pearls. But there are important differences as well; Anne is shown standing with the train of her dress held with her right arm to her waist, while in her left she draws a gauze scarf to her bosom. Her sister Martha is seated, looking at the viewer, a drawing in her right hand, sketchbooks, a pen and fragments of sculpture at her side, showing that she is a keen amateur artist. Is worth remembering that in the 17th and 18th centuries; drawing and painting, as well as needlework, were considered important and worthy pastimes for ladies of genteel condition. The portrait of Martha can be dated around the same time as her sister´s, that is 1782.

There is another portrait of Martha Harley, or Mrs. George Drummond, (Museum of Fine Arts of Montreal = 230 x 152 cm) which was commissioned in 1779 to celebrate her marriage to the heir of the Drummond bank, founded in 1717 by Andrew Drummond, a wealthy Scottish goldsmith.  The bank remained within the Drummond family until 1924 when it became known as the Drummonds Branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland. This portrait is a full-length, painted in Gainsborough´s characteristic, loose brushstrokes of his later years. The young Mrs. Drummond is sitting by a large column and her right arm rests on its plinth. It is a nice painting, but not as nice as the other portraits aforementioned.