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Elizabeth Wrottesley, later Duchess of Grafton
(1764) {/(1765)}
Medium
oil on canvas on wood panel
Measurements
76.1 × 63.5 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1933
Gallery location
18th Century Decorative Arts & Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
Thomas Gainsborough’s portrait of Elizabeth Wrottesley, aged around
nineteen, reflects the French influences of his training under Francis Hayman and the Huguenot engraver Gravelot. In the 1760s Gainsborough established a successful practice in the fashionable spa town of Bath. In failing health, Gainsborough began limiting his commissions, but on meeting the sitter’s uncle the Duke of Bedford, stated, ‘I cannot resist the honour of doing something for the Duke of Bedford productive of further advantages’. Gainsborough painted many portraits of the Bedford family, including Elizabeth
and her sister. A famed beauty, ‘Betty’ Wrottesley married the prime minister of England, the Duke of Grafton, in 1769.
Artwork Details
Accession Number
4727-3
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Biographical Portraits
Subjects (specific)
busts (general, figures) dresses (garments) duchesses (noblewomen) green (colour) lace (needlework) ribbon (material) women (female humans)