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This portrait of Mary Countess Howe is one of Gainsborough’s most striking works. She stands confidently, with a hand-on-hip pose and direct gaze, set against a dark and unruly landscape. The painting was commissioned together with a full-length companion portrait of her husband Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, a successful British Naval officer and admiral. An appreciation of the pastoral and rural idyll was deemed highly fashionable amongst women in high society throughout the 18th century. Countess Howe owned substantial amounts of land in her own right, having inherited her father’s estates across north-east Leicestershire. Here, Gainsborough presents her as a socially ambitious land-owner, gracefully enjoying a stroll across her estates.
The portrait showcases Gainsborough’s incredible attention to detail, his distinctive and skilful feathery brushwork, along with his preference for setting his portraits against romantically wild landscapes.
English Heritage, Kenwood
London
Title
Mary, Countess Howe (1732–1800)
Date
c.1764
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 243.2 x W 154.3 cm
Accession number
88028783
Acquisition method
Iveagh Bequest, 1929
Work type
Painting
English Heritage, Kenwood
Hampstead Lane, London, Greater London NW3 7JR England
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