Anne Seymour Damer (née Conway)

Inscriptionback to top

Signed in monogram (R enclosed in C) and incised on back of gold case: Hon :^lis Anna Damer/Rich :^dus De Cosway, Arm :^gr R.A./et serenissimi Walliae Principis/Primarius Pictor/Pinxit/1785.

This portraitback to top

Several Cosway portraits of Mrs Damer are recorded: (1) NPG 5236 being the earliest; (2) it was developed into another known from Schiavonetti's stipple engraving published 1 February 1791 and again 25 March 1794 in which the face is the same but the hair longer and more bushy and the dress contemporary; it was used later as an illustration in Cunningham's Lives, III, 1830; (3) a pencil drawing 1790 was exhibited 'Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill' at Orleans House, Twickenham 1980 (223) lent by the Earl Waldegrave, inscribed on the back by Horace Walpole: 'Mrs Damer in the attitude of having just finished her bust of the young Paris. Drawn by Rich. Cosway 1790. H.W.'; (4) Whole-length standing with mallet, chisel and bust on pedestal, engraved by Greatbach and published Richard Bentley 1857 'From a drawing formerly at Strawberry Hill', and in Strawberry Hill sale 14 May 1842 (14); (5) pencil drawing of Mrs Damer and Miss Berry in the library at Strawberry Hill, Sotheby's 14 March 1956 (626).

Physical descriptionback to top

Head and shoulders aged 31 in 'Elizabethan' costume - black dress with red ribbons, edged with lace and pearls, white ruff edged in black and encircled with pearls, powdered hair, blue-green eyes, pale complexion, smiling expression; blue backgrounds scumbled in purple round the hair.

Provenanceback to top

Christie's 18 December 1973 (89) bought M. S. Wallis; Christie's 28 November 1978 (36) bought Leggatt for the NPG.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, 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.

View all known portraits for Richard Cosway

View all known portraits for Anne Seymour Damer (née Conway)