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Sketchbook by Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford, 1887-88


61 Portraits in set

Sketchbook of Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford, containing 76 leaves (of which two are later insertions) of watercolour and pencil sketches, mainly portraits with some landscapes and interior views. Probably drawn at Highcliffe in 1887 and 1888, the sketchbook contains portraits of the artist's friends and acquaintances including Eleanor Vere Boyle, the Rev. Charles and Lady Caroline Courtenay, and the artist's future biographer Augustus J.C. Hare. Given by Lady Piper, the widow of Sir David Piper (former Director of the National Portrait Gallery), in 1994. The daughter of the British ambassador to the French court, Louisa Stuart's artistic talent was recognised by a number of her contemporaries though she received no formal training. She married Henry, the 3rd Marquess of Waterford in 1842. After his death in 1859 she split her time between Ford, the Northumberland castle bequeathed by her late husband, and Highcliffe, the Stuart home in Dorset which she inherited in 1867. She died in Ford in 1891.

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