Lucy Loftus (incorrectly called Jenny Deering)

1757

Not on view

A woman wearing a loose, low-necked gown kneels beneath a large tree and points toward a parrot. Sir Robert Walpole acquired Lely's painting from Thomas, 1st Marquess of Wharton and hung it in the Common Parlour at Houghton. An inscription on the frame misidentified the sitter as Jenny Deering (the previous owner's miistress) and this was repeated in Charles Townley's eighteenth-century mezzotint. A print by Alexander Browne, published around 1680 soon after the portrait was made, correctly identifies the sitter as Lucy Loftus, later Vicountess Lisburne. The latter's daughter (also named Lucy Loftus) married the Philip, first Duike of Wharton (1698-1731) and Sir Robert Walpole acquired the painting from the latter, together with other family portraits.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

References

Title: Lucy Loftus (incorrectly called Jenny Deering)
Series/Portfolio: Houghton Gallery, II, no. 63
Artist: After Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes) (British, Soest 1618–1680 London)
Engraver: Charles Townley (British, Towneley Hall, near Burnley, Lancashire 1737–1805 London)
Sitter: Lucy Loftus, Vicountess Lisburne (British, died 1689)
Sitter: The print wrongly said to portray Jenny Deering (British, active 17th century)
Date: 1757
Medium: Mezzotint
Dimensions: sheet: 12 5/16 x 9 3/4 in. (31.2 x 24.7 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1925
Object Number: 25.62.29v
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By Charles Townley

In the same medium

From the same time and place

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Aedes Walpolianae, or a Description of the Collection of Pictures at Houghton Hall in Norfolk, the Seat of the Right Honorable Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford (Interleaved with Drawings by Isaac Ware for: The Plans, Elevations, and Sections of Chimney Pieces, and Celings of Houghton Hall in Norfolk...1735) ["The Walpole Album"], Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford British, Etching, engraving, pen and ink, brush and wash, watercolor — Aedes Walpolianae, or a Description of the Collection of Pictures at Houghton Hall in Norfolk, the Seat of the Right Honorable Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford (Interleaved with Drawings by Isaac Ware for: The Plans, Elevations, and Sections of Chimney Pieces, and Celings of Houghton Hall in Norfolk...1735) ["The Walpole Album"]
Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford
1550–early 20th century

Study of the Forearms and Hands of a Woman, Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes) Dutch, British, Black chalk with touches of red, heightened with white, on buff paper. — Study of the Forearms and Hands of a Woman
Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes)
ca. 1665

Mary Capel (1630–1715), Later Duchess of Beaufort, and Her Sister Elizabeth (1633–1678), Countess of Carnarvon, Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes) Dutch, British, Oil on canvas — Mary Capel (1630–1715), Later Duchess of Beaufort, and Her Sister Elizabeth (1633–1678), Countess of Carnarvon
Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes)

Study for a Portrait of a Woman, Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes) Dutch, British, Oil on canvas — Study for a Portrait of a Woman
Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes)
1670s

Sir Henry Capel (1638–1696), Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes) Dutch, British, Oil on canvas — Sir Henry Capel (1638–1696)
Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes)

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