Lady Mary Wortley Montagu with her son, Edward Wortley Montagu, and attendants

1 portrait

attributed to Jean Baptiste Vanmour
oil on canvas, circa 1717
27 1/4 in. x 35 3/4 in. (693 mm x 909 mm)
Purchased, 1958
Primary Collection
NPG 3924

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Sittersback to top

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762), Writer and traveller. Sitter associated with 9 portraits.
Edward Wortley Montagu (1713-1776), Writer and traveller; son of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Sitter in 5 portraits.

Artistback to top

Jean Baptiste Vanmour (1671-1737). Artist associated with 1 portrait.

This portraitback to top

This portrait was painted in Constantinople, which can be seen in the background. Lady Mary is shown in Turkish dress with her son and two attendants, one playing the Turkish lute, the other perhaps holding a letter. The country and its people fascinated her; her letters home cover a huge range of topics. In one letter Lady Mary Wortley describes her Turkish clothes, as worn in her portrait:

Linked publicationsback to top

Birkett, Dea; Morris, Jan (foreword), Off the Beaten Track: Three Centuries of Women Travellers, 2004 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 7 July to 31 October 2004), p. 47
Cooper, John, A Guide to the National Portrait Gallery, 2009, p. 31
Ingamells, John, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, 2004, p. 341
Kerslake, John, Early Georgian Portraits, 1977, p. 188
Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 719