Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue

Mary Gwyn (née Horneck) (circa 1752-1840), Goldsmith's 'Jessamy Bride'

With her sister Catherine, well-known in the circle of Oliver Goldsmith (who called her Jessamy Bride and her sister 'Little Comedy'); married 1779 General Francis Gwyn (d. 1821), equerry to George III, and made a lady of the bedchamber to Queen Charlotte; her reminiscences provided much of Goldsmith’s first biography (by Prior 1837).


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.