Ann Keppel, Countess of Albemarle (c.1743-1824), and her son William Charles (later 4th Earl of Albemarle) (1772-1849)

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Whitehall

In this double portrait a grieving mother is consoled by her young son. Presumably she grieves for the loss of her husband, George Keppel, Third Earl of Albemarle (1724–1772), who had died some years earlier. This work is a copy, made in 1888 by Constance Pitcairn, of a painting by George Romney, painted in c.1777–79. The original work is in the collection at Kenwood House.

Portraitist George Romney was born at Beckside, Dalton-in-Furness. From 1755 to 1757 he was apprenticed to portrait painter Christopher Steele at Kendal, moving with him to York and Lancaster, before settling in London in 1762. He won two prizes from the Society of Arts (1763, 1765). From 1773 to 1775 he studied in Italy, predominantly Rome. He never exhibited at the Royal Academy and yet became a fashionable portraitist. In 1781 he first met Emma Hart; his muse until her marriage to Sir William Hamilton when she gave up sitting to the artist. Portraits of Emma, many impersonating mythological or allegorical characters, are now his best known works. He retired to Kendal, to the home of his estranged wife Mary, three years before his death.

People

Anne, Countess of Albemarle Keppel (c1743 - 1824), William Charles, 4th Earl of Albemarle Keppel (1772 - 1849)

Places

Subjects

group portrait, tree, dog, boy, woman, 18th century costume, dress, stockings, breeches, shoe, family, son, mother, child, Countess, Earl, pillar (architectural feature)

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

George, (After) Romney
Constance Pitcairn

Title

Ann Keppel, Countess of Albemarle (c.1743-1824), and her son William Charles (later 4th Earl of Albemarle) (1772-1849)

Date

1888

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 236.50 cm, width: 145.00 cm

Acquisition

Presented by the Earl of Albemarle, 1949

Provenance

Presented by the earl of Albemarle 1949; copy by Constance Pitcairn (1888) of painting by Romney at Kenwood House.

GAC number

636