Charlotte (neé Hill), Countess Talbot (1754-1804)

Location

Country: Belgium
City: Brussels
Place: British Embassy, UK representation to the EU & UK delegation to NATO

This print by Valentine Green is after a painting by Joshua Reynolds currently held in Tate Britain. It depicts society figure Lady Charlotte Talbot (née Hill, 1754–1804). She is shown full-length, dressed in a classically inspired dress, pouring oil onto burning coals in a sacrificial tribute to the Roman goddess Minerva. The portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy’s annual exhibition in 1782. It was commissioned by her husband, the 1st Earl of Talbot and was engraved in mezzotint during the time of the exhibition to ensure a wider circulation of the image. Green advertised the plate as number ‘XI’ in his publication ‘A Series of Beauties of the Present Age, engraved from pictures painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds’. 

Joshua Reynolds was the dominant artistic personality during the age of George III. He was born in Plympton, Devon. From 1750 to 1752 he studied the work of the Old Masters in Rome. Reynolds returned via Florence and Paris, and settled in London in 1753. In 1759 he painted a portrait of the future king, George, Prince of Wales (Royal Collection). After George’s accession the following year, Reynolds was dismayed to learn that Allan Ramsay had been made Principal Painter to the King. This marked the beginning of increasing hostility between Reynolds and the King. Nonetheless, by 1760 Reynolds had established himself as the leading portraitist. He became President of the Royal Academy in 1768 and was knighted the following year.
Valentine Green, engraver of portraits and historical subjects after works by his contemporaries, was born at Salford, Worcestershire. He was intended for a career at the Bar, but without his father’s consent, became apprenticed to an obscure line engraver in Worcester. When he came to London in 1765 he began working in mezzotint and engraved nearly 400 plates over the next 40 years. In 1775 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy and was appointed Mezzotint Engraver to George III. In 1789 he obtained the exclusive privilege of engraving the pictures of the Dusseldorf, but was ruined when the city was besieged in 1798. In 1805 he was made Keeper of the newly founded British Institution, a post he retained until his death.

People

Charlotte (née Hill), Countess Talbot Talbot (1754 - 1804)

Places

Subjects

statue (as Subject), female portrait, landscape C18th, 18th century costume, dress, Countess, incense burner, column, curtain

Materials & Techniques

mezzotint

Artist

Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723 - 1792)
Valentine Green (1739 - 1813)

Title

Charlotte (neé Hill), Countess Talbot (1754-1804)

Date

published 1 May 1782

Medium

Mezzotint

Acquisition

Purchased from Agnew's, August 1964

GAC number

6654