Sophia, Lady Burdett

1 portrait matching these criteria:

- subject matching 'Gloves and gauntlets'

© National Portrait Gallery, London

 Like voting
is closed

Thanks for Liking

Please Like other favourites!
If they inspire you please support our work.

Buy a print Buy a greetings card Make a donation Close

Sophia, Lady Burdett

by Sir Thomas Lawrence
oil on canvas, after 1793
93 1/2 in. x 56 1/2 in. (2375 mm x 1435 mm)
Bequeathed by William Lehman Ashmead Bartlett Burdett-Coutts, 1952
Primary Collection
NPG 3821

On display in Room 18 on Floor 3 at the National Portrait Gallery

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), Portrait painter, collector and President of the Royal Academy. Artist or producer associated with 696 portraits, Sitter in 25 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This portrait depicts Lady Burdett in a woodland setting, apparently resting on a stile after collecting flowers, one of which she has tucked into the folds of her gown. She wears a low plain hairstyle and carries a straw milkmaid or bergère hat with a ribbon tie. Such hats were popular in the 1750s and 60s and their use was continued only by working country women in later years. Lady Burdett's deliberate adoption of this old-fashioned, pastoral style aims to lend her a simple charm, though it is at odds with her spotless white dress, dainty pointed slipper-shoes and the fashionable detailing of her accessories. Her pink shawl is edged with modish 'steel embroidery' - incorporating shiny bands of steel thread - while her kid gloves are in the fashionable 'York tan' shade.

Related worksback to top

  • NPG 3820: Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Bt (companion portrait)

Linked publicationsback to top

Events of 1793back to top

Current affairs

Whig MP Charles Grey enters a motion for parliamentary reform but is defeated in the House of Commons.

Art and science

Radical philosopher William Godwin publishes Political Justice, an inflamatory document that promoted rational anarchism. This crystallised a wider feeling that a new era of world peace and progress was beginning.
Sir William Beechey is appointed Portrait Painter to her Majesty, Queen Charlotte.

International

Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette are executed and the Reign of Terror begins.
France declares war on Britain, Holland and then Spain. William Pitt addresses the House of Commons and Britain hesitantly joins the first coalition of anti-revolutionary European states to oppose the French threat.
Attack on Corsica in which Captain Horatio Nelson loses an eye.

Comments back to top

We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.

If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.