SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS’S MRS. NESBITT AS CIRCE (1781): FASHIONING REPUTATIONS By Hannah Southern Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of American University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts In Art History Chair: __________________________________________ ______________ Julietett BBellow,elllolow PPh.D.h D _____________________________________________________________ AndreaAndrea PearsonPearson, PhPh.D.D ___________________________________ Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences ___________________________________April 29, 2020 Date 2020 American University Washington, D.C. 20016 © COPYRIGHT by Hannah Southern 2020 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS’S MRS. NESBITT AS CIRCE (1781): FASHIONING REPUTATIONS BY Hannah Southern ABSTRACT In the spring of 1781, society hostess and former courtesan Mary Nesbitt commissioned Sir Joshua Reynolds to paint her portrait, a work now called Mrs. Nesbitt as Circe (1781). As its current title suggests, the portrait depicts Nesbitt in the guise of Circe, a sorceress and seXual temptress in ancient Greek mythology. However, the painting freely interprets Circe’s story. Nesbitt is surrounded by three animals in the portrait—a domestic cat, a black monkey, and a leopard—none of which feature in the Homeric text or other versions of Circe’s tale. Building on recent scholarship that considers how Georgian portraiture could function as a form of self- fashioning for both the artist and sitter, this thesis examines the unusual iconography of Mrs. Nesbitt as Circe. I offer a series of hypotheses that illuminate this enigmatic image in its context, analyzing its complex relationship to concepts of gendered and national identity in late eighteenth-century Britain. Nesbitt’s choice to depict herself as this sexually alluring mythological character is a clear reference to her own history as a courtesan, a daring move for both her and Reynolds, risking public approbation for celebrating her lack of propriety. Yet the provocative nature of this allusion to Circe is tempered by the menagerie of non-European animals around the sitter. I argue this iconography links Nesbitt to Britain’s imperial and racial exploits of the period, which included colonial expansion in Africa, the rise of the East India Company, and increasing trade throughout the Middle East. Through this oblique reference to ii Britain’s power overseas, Reynolds secured Nesbitt’s white privilege, visually identifying her with the nation’s colonial military and economic power. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been possible without the support of the American University Art History Department, my family, and friends. I thank my advisor, Dr. Juliet Bellow, for her guidance throughout this process and for her encouragement in finding my scholarly voice. Thank you to Dr. Andrea Pearson and Dr. Joanne Allen for their vital insights and suggestions. I thank Sam Sadow for the wonderful time I spent working in the Visual Resource Center, allowing me to pursue my interests in digital archives. Elizabeth B. gave me wonderful feedback and editing support throughout the writing process, and I wish her academic success as she pursues her MA. I also could not have reached the finish line without the open ears of my friends and cohort. I especially thank Nicole Martin for her friendship these past two years. I thank my father, Michael Southern, for all of his love, support, and inspiration over the years. Prudence, my constant companion, thank you for the late night company when all seemed lost. To Gabe Wisner-Carlson, thank you for your unwavering patience, kindness, and support throughout this journey—you have been my rock even when the world has, almost literally, come to a stop. Finally, I thank my mother, Kathleen Pepi Southern, for her love, curiosity, and discerning eye— this project, quite literally, could not have been possible without you. Thank you for always believing in me. Thank you! iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT………………………………………………………….…………………………... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………... iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS………………………………………………….……………….... iv INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………….……………….. 1 CHAPTER 1 A COLLABORATIVE ENTERPRISE…………………….…………….. 11 CHAPTER 2 TRANSFORMATIVE CIRCE……………………..……….……………. 22 CHAPTER 3 SELF-FASHIONING AS IMPERIAL……………………….……..……. 31 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………...……….. 47 ILLUSTRATIONS………...………………………………………………………….…….…... 49 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………………..... 51 v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1: Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mrs. Nesbitt as Circe, 1781. Oil on canvas…………...………….49 Figure 2: Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mrs. Nesbitt with a Dove, 1781. Oil on canvas…...……………...49 Figure 3: Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mrs. Hale as ‘Euphrosyne’, 1762-64. Oil on canvas. …….……...49 Figure 4: Sir Joshua Reynolds, Kitty Fisher as Cleopatra Dissolving the Pearl, 1759. Oil on canvas.……………………………………………………………………...……………..……...49 Figure 5: Sir Joshua Reynolds, The Death of Dido, 1779-81. Oil on canvas….……………...…...49 Figure 6: Sir Joshua Reynolds, Nelly O’Brien, 1763-67. Oil on canvas…………………...……...49 Figure 7: Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse, 1784. Oil on canvas………...49 Figure 8: Sir Joshua Reynolds, Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, 1762. Oil on canvas.………49 Figure 9: Robert Bowyer Parks, after Sir Joshua Reynolds, Elizabeth Catherine ('Kitty') Clarke (née Hunter), 1763. Mezzotint on paper…………………………………………………..……...49 Figure 10: George Romney, Emma Hart, Lady Hamilton, as Circe, 1782. Oil on canvas…….......49 Figure 11: Sir Joshua Reynolds, Kitty Fisher, 1759. Oil on canvas………………………….........49 Figure 12: Thomas Gainsborough, Ann Ford, 1760. Oil on canvas……………………...…..…...49 Figure 13: John Wallis, The Devonshire Amusement, 1784. Etching on paper…………..…….....49 Figure 14: Sir Joshua Reynolds, George VI as Prince of Wales, 1783. Oil on canvas…..…….......49 Figure 15: George Stubbs, Leopards at Play, 1780. Etching and engraving on paper…...………..49 Figure 16: Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mrs. Baldwin, 1782. Oil on canvas…………………….…..…...49 Figure 17: William Hogarth, A Harlot’s Progress, 1732. Etching and engraving on paper.….......49 Figure 18: Antoine Watteau, The Monkey Sculptor, 1710. Oil on canvas…………….....………..49 Figure 19: Charles Grignion after William Hogarth, Tailpiece to the Catalogue of Pictures Exhibited in Spring Garden, 1761. Etching and engraving on paper……………….…...………..49 Figure 20: Sir Joshua Reynolds, John Manners, Marquess of Granby, 1763-65. Oil on canvas....49 Figure 21: Sir Joshua Reynolds, Lady Elizabeth Keppel, 1761. Oil on canvas…….…...………..49 vi Figure 22: Francois Boucher, La Surprise, 1730. Oil on canvas………………………...………..50 Figure 23: T. Bowen, Out of Fashion. In Fashion, 1772. Etching on paper………...…...………..50 Figure 24: Sir Joshua Reynolds, Portrait of John Campbell, 1st Barron Cawdor, 1778. Oil on canvas…………………………………………………………………………………...………..50 Figure 25: Anonymous, Caricature Showing Marie Antoinette as a Leopard, eighteenth century. Etching.…………………………………….…………………………………………...………..50 Figure 26: George Romney, Lady Hamilton as Circe, 1782. Oil on canvas…..………...………..50 Figure 27: Angelica Kauffmann, Odysseus and Circe (Circe enticing Ulysses), 1786. Oil on canvas. .…………………………………….…………………………………………...………..50 vii INTRODUCTION In the spring of 1781, society hostess and former courtesan Mary Nesbitt (1742/3–1825) commissioned Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), then President of the Royal Academy, to paint her likeness. Reynolds ultimately produced two portraits: Mrs. Nesbitt as Circe (1781; fig. 1) and Mrs. Nesbitt with a Dove (1781; fig. 2).1 The larger of the two paintings and the subject of this study, Mrs. Nesbitt as Circe, hung in a prominent space in Nesbitt’s home where she held political salons visited by high-ranking members of the British government.2 As its current title suggests, the portrait depicts Nesbitt in the guise of Circe, a sorceress and sexual temptress in ancient Greek mythology, chiefly Homer’s The Odyssey. The iconography of Reynolds’s portrait evokes the character Nesbitt plays: a magical golden cup used to drug Circe’s victims sits next to Nesbitt’s limp left hand, and the white, toga-like drapery of her gown places her in a vaguely 1 David Mannings and Martin Postle, Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), 351. The 1781 date attributed to Mrs. Nesbitt as Circe is subject to some debate. Reynolds painted two portraits of Mrs. Nesbitt; some scholars contend that the 1781 sitting only produced the second portrait Mrs. Nesbitt with a Dove 1781. I have concluded through my research that Mrs. Nesbitt as Circe was produced in May 1781, agreeing with the leading Reynolds scholars Martin Postle and David Mannings. The 1884, Catalogue of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A., Exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery and the provenance of the portrait’s current owner, Smith College Museum of Art also concur with this conclusion. The earlier 1764 date is first suggested in the Life and Works of Ozias Humphry, R.A (1918). A letter of the artist relates seeing a Circe painting under production in Reynold’s studio but does not name the model posing as Circe. Thus, raising substantial doubt that Reynolds was painting the then notorious courtesan Mary Davis (later Nesbitt). Nor does Reynolds reference a 1764 Circe in his business letters of that timeframe. Reynolds’s appointment book does include a sitting with a Mrs. Nesbit [sic] in 1769,