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Elizabeth Vesey

2 of 110 portraits matching these criteria:

- subject matching 'Crayon'

Elizabeth Vesey, by Unknown artist, circa 1770 -NPG 3131 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue

Elizabeth Vesey

by Unknown artist
circa 1770
9 3/8 in. x 7 7/8 in. (238 mm x 200 mm)
NPG 3131

Inscriptionback to top

The original backboard inscribed: Mrs Vesey/Mrs Shilleto

This portraitback to top

The identity rests on the inscription and the existence of a second very similar but reduced drawing identified as Mrs Vesey; [1] the provenance of NPG 3131 is also supportive. The eccentric costume makes dating hazardous, and the suggested date is based on her possible age.

Footnotesback to top

1) Oval half, length, formerly in the collection of Lord Treowen (1851-1933; illus. NPG Burney Diaries, I, i, f.p.153).

Physical descriptionback to top

Wearing a bonnet, a cape with a fur collar and a buttoned bodice.

Provenanceback to top

St Clement’s Danes, London;1 [the Rev Pennington-Bickford (1874-1941), vicar of St Clements Danes2] bought from a barrow in Lambeth by G. F. Gilmour, by whom presented 1943.

1 Gilmour described NPG 3131 as bought ‘with a lot of odds and ends from St Clement Danes’ (letter of 10 February 1943; NPG archive).
2 The indirect descendant of the Rev Montagu Pennington (1762-1849) who, according to DNB, owned a crayon portrait of Mrs Vesey; he was the nephew and executor of Elizabeth Carter, whose correspondence he published in 1809, including her extensive letters to Mrs Vesey.


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.

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