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Unknown woman, formerly known as Louisa, Countess of Albany

4 of 40 portraits by Hugh Douglas Hamilton

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Unknown woman, formerly known as Louisa, Countess of Albany

attributed to Hugh Douglas Hamilton
oil on canvas, circa 1785
9 1/2 in. x 8 1/2 in. (241 mm x 216 mm)
Purchased, 1873
Primary Collection
NPG 377

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Although this painting entered the collection with portraits of Prince Charles (NPG 376) and Cardinal York (NPG 378) and remains associated with these two portraits, both rightly named, the identification should be treated with caution. No other versions of the type are known and the features of the lady are not easily reconciled with authentic portraits of Louisa. The hair style and costume are of this date but the sitter looks distinctly old for c.1785. More detailed information on this portrait is available in a National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue, John Kerslake's Early Georgian Portraits (1977, out of print).

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Current affairs

George Prince of Wales secretly marries his mistress Maria Fitzherbert in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act of 1772.
Prime Minister William Pitt introduces a bill proposing parliamentary reform and the abolition of 'rotten boroughs' but is defeated.

Art and science

William Cowper publishes his best -known poem The Task.
James Boswell publishes The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, narrating his travels with the late writer Samuel Johnson.
Physician and naturalist James Hutton presents his studies of local rocks to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, launching the era of scientific geology.

International

Warren Hastings resigns as Governor-General of Bengal and returns to England. His trial begins on charges of corruption in the administration of India.
French sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon crosses the Atlantic to sculpt a statue of George Washington.
British government establishes a permanent land force in the Eastern Caribbean, based in Barbados.

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