History - Family Portraits

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Isabella, Marchioness of Hertford (as Lady Beauchamp) (1759-1834) by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), 94 X 58 (238.5 X 147.5)

The portrait was painted in 1777 when the sitter was aged 18. It was engraved twenty years later by R Cribb of Holborn and dedicated to her sister the Hon Mrs Aston. Lady Hertford achieved considerable notoriety in middle age when she became the confidante of the Prince of Wales. They are said to have met through a contest of Mrs Fitzherbert over the guardianship of Minnie Seymour, daughter of Lady Horatia Seymour (Lady Hertford's sister-in-law). The child was left in the guardianship of Mrs Fitzherbert but, on appeal, with the award of the child to Lord Hertford. The Prince nevertheless persuaded Lady Hertford to surrender her to Mrs Fitzherbert who thus 'won a daughter but lost a husband'. In politics Lady Hertford was a reactionary and anti-Catholic and made Manchester House the headquarters of the Tory party until the charms of Lady Conyngham deprived her of her Prince.

Temple Newsam 6/52

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