R.E. Hill After Sir Thomas Lawrence, Countess of Wilton, 1830, Watercolour

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An original c.1830 watercolour painting, R.E. Hill, Countess of Wilton after Sir Thomas Lawrence.This sumptuous three-quarter length portrait by R.E. … Read more An original c.1830 watercolour painting, R.E. Hill, Countess of Wilton after Sir Thomas Lawrence.This sumptuous three-quarter length portrait by R.E. Hill depicts Mary Margaret Stanley Egerton, Countess of Wilton (1801–1858). Mary Stanley was daughter of the 12th Earl of Derby. In 1821 she married British nobleman and Tory politician Thomas Egerton, 2nd Earl of Wilton, who was an accomplished horseman, yachtsman and composer. Thomas was second son of Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster, one of Britain's richest aristocrats, and he counted among his friends the Duke of Wellington, Count d'Orsay, Sir Francis Grant and Benjamin Disraeli.The Countess of Wilton became one of the Duke of Wellington's closest friends and principal female correspondents. The Wilton estates included Heaton Hall, Manchester, where they entertained lavishly, and a large tract of land near Melton Mowbray, as well as the Manor of Oxenhope.This portrait is after an oil painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence (which sold in 2010 for £1,777,250), in which the Countess of Wilton is elegantly posed in a red velvet dress with a landscape beyond. Her mother was the celebrated Irish beauty and actress Elizabeth Farren, whom Lawrence had also painted at the outset of his career, in one of the most beguiling of his full-length portraits (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).On card.All artworks come with a Certificate of Authenticity and—if it is a collection artwork—its accompanying collection text or artist biography. Signed: Signed lower left. Inscribed: Inscribed lower centre. Height: 20.1cm (7.9″) Width: 15.5cm (6.1″) Condition: In very good condition for its age. There are historic adhesive marks and/or paper remnants to the edges on the verso, from previous mounting. Please see photos for detail. Presented: Unframed. See less