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Provenance

Painted for the sitter's mother, Georgiana, Countess Spencer [1737-1814], wife of John Spencer, 1st earl Spencer [1734-1783], Althorp, Northamptonshire; by descent[1] to John, 7th earl Spencer [1892-1975], Althorp; purchased 1924 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); sold 13 April 1925 to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA.

[1] Additional Earls Spencer per The Getty Provenance Index, and NGA curatorial files.

Exhibition History

1783
Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1783, no. 78, as Portrait of a lady of quality.
1859
The Works of Ancient Masters and Deceased British Artists, British Institution, London, 1859, no. 149.
1862
International Exhibition, South Kensington, London, 1862, no. 72.
1885
The Works of Thomas Gainsborough, R.A., Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1885, no. 145.
1892
Loan Collection of Pictures, Corporation of London Art Gallery, 1892, no. 92.
2010
Thomas Gainsborough and the Modern Woman, Cincinnati Art Museum; San Diego Museum of Art, 2010-2011, not in catalogue (shown only in San Diego).

Bibliography

1783
Morning Herald, 29 April 1783.
1783
Morning Post, 1 May 1783.
1783
St. James's Chronicle, 1 May 1783.
1822
Dibdin, Thomas Fognall. Aedes Althorpianae. London, 1822: 275.
1880
Graves, Henry, & Company. Engravings from the Works of Thomas Gainsborough, R.A.. London, c. 1880: no. 33 (mezzotint by R. B. Parkes, published 1870).
1898
Armstrong, Sir Walter. Gainsborough & His Place in English Art. London, 1898: 194; popular ed., London, 1904: 263.
1915
Whitley, William T. Thomas Gainsborough. London, 1915: 197-199.
1928
Whitley, William T. Artists and Their Friends in England 1700-1800. London, 1928: 1:396-398.
1941
Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: no. 284, repro.
1941
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 71.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 241, repro. 14.
1949
Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 109, repro.
1957
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 89
1958
Waterhouse, Sir Ellis. Gainsborough. London, 1958: no. 194, pl. 206.
1960
The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 19, repro. 20.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 319, repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 54
1968
European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 47, repro.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 142, repro.
1975
Paulson, Ronald. Emblem and Expression. London, 1975: 216, pl. 148.
1975
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: no. 496, color repro.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 357, no. 494, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 164, repro.
1991
Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 60.
1992
Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 95-97, repro. 96.
2103
Bennett, Shelly M. The Art of Weath: The Huntingtons in the Gilded Age. San Marino, 2013: 271, 273, 275, 277, color fig. 5.5.

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