LADIES-IN-WAITING: Art, Sex and Politics at the Early Georgian Court
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LADIES-IN-WAITING: Art, Sex and Politics at the early Georgian Court By Eric Jonathan Weichel A thesis submitted to the Department of Art in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (April 2013) Copyright © Eric Jonathan Weichel, 2013. i Abstract This thesis discusses the cultural contributions – artistic patronage, art theory, art satire - of four Ladies-in-Waiting employed at the early eighteenth-century century British court: Mary, Countess Cowper; Charlotte Clayton, Baroness Sundon; Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk; and Mary Hervey, Baroness Hervey of Ickworth. Through a close reading of archival manuscripts, published correspondences and art historical treatises, I explore the cultural milieu, historical legacy and historiographic reception of these individuals. I argue that their writing reveals fresh insight on the switch from Baroque to Rococo modes of portraiture in Britain, as it does critical attitudes to sex, religion and politics among aristocratic women. Through the use of satire, these courtiers comment on extramarital affairs, rape, homosexuality and divorce among their peer group. They also show an interest in issues of feminist education, literature, political and religious patronage, and contemporary news events, which they reference through allusions to painting, architecture, sculpture, engravings, ceramics, textiles and book illustrations. Many of the artists patronized by the court in this period were foreign-born, peripatetic, and stylistically unusual. Partly due to the transnational nature of these artist’s careers, and partly due to the reluctance of later historians to admit the extent of foreign socio-cultural influence, biased judgements about the quality of these émigré painters’ work continue to predominate in art historical scholarship. While little-studied themselves, these Ladies-in-waiting were at the center of political, social and cultural life in Britain. Their letters therefore have much of value in reclaiming, not only their own contributions to the development of British cultural life, but those of the French or Francophile émigré artists patronized at court. By studying the work of these artists and the lives of their patrons, I examine the intersection between biography and artistic practice at the early eighteenth-century British court. i Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Janice Helland, for her patience, tact, discretion and support; Stephanie Dickey, who read the manuscript and added comments and help at various stages, and Cathleen Hoeniger and Una D’Elia, for their advice and encouragement. My colleagues in graduate school, including Susanne McColeman, Heather Merla, Veronica Carter, Casey Lee, Julie Hollenbach and Megan Whitehead have provided so much support, as has my partner in crime, Allison Fisher, to whom I can never express enough gratitude. Former colleagues Stephanize Azran, Jill Pertulla and Anna Khimasia were role models and pillars of strength for me throughout this process, as were my students in Italy, Jess Leggett, Tori Piccin, Alexandra Kamakas and Hayley Palmer. My students in Ottawa, including Jane Putnam, Oxana Sawka, Barbara Dorrell and Ken King have been inspirational and encouraging. While my time at Queen’s has been largely positive, external life events – a divorce, and the terminal illness of a parent – did make this stage in my life a difficult one, and I could never have made it through this frequently dark period without the support of a large number of people. I am terribly grateful to my Kingston ‘family’, Leigh and Rebecca Keffer, Reid Martin, Jonathan Myrie and Mark Collins, for helping me through some of the worst, and the best, moments in life. I’m also grateful to Christina Palubiskie, Laura Francoeur, Jocelyn Bolduc, Brian Anders and Ashley Vanstone for their love, patience and guidance. My grandparents, Bill and Hazel Wager, and my uncle, Bruce Wager, have shown me the true meaning of family. And above all, to my beloved parents, Norm and Lorraine Weichel, without whose support none of this would ever have been possible – Mom and Dad, I love you so much. ii Contents Abstract i Acknowledgements ii List of Figures iii Chapter One: Introduction: Ladies-in-Waiting, their Letters, and the Historiography of early eighteenth-century British Art. 1 Chapter Two: ‘Most Horribly Done, and So Unfortunately Like’: Mary Cowper and Émigré Artists at the Court of St. James. 55 Chapter Three: ‘Whilst my Imagination was Warmed with the Picture’: James Worsdale’s portrait of Charlotte Clayton 82 Chapter Four: ‘Not only increase but embellish the collection’: Political Satire and Lady Hervey’s Imaginary Pictures 107 Chapter Five: ‘Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back’: Literary Allusion, Elite Feminine Education, and the salonnière Tradition. 145 Chapter Six: ‘Some Few I don’t Understand’: Sex, Vision and Violence 188 Chapter Seven: Marital Humour and Visual Imagery 220 Chapter Eight: ‘Jupiter and Ganymede’: Homosexuality and Art at the early Georgian Court 243 Chapter Nine: Beauty and Conflagration: Space and Place 266 Chapter Ten: Conclusion: ‘Portrait of an Unknown Lady’: Ceramics, Sex and Gender in British Art Historiography 301 Bibliography. 344 Appendix One 399 iii List of Figures Figure 2.1. Sir Godfrey Kneller, Mary, Countess Cowper (1685–1724), 1709, oil on canvas, private collection. 59 Figure 2.2. René Auguste Constantyn. Portrait of two sons and four daughters of Don Francisco Lopes Suasso in a garden landscape with a pet dog, an extensive landscape beyond, 1730, oil on Canvas, 647 x 826 mm, private collection. 61 Figure 2.3. Philippe Mercier, The Schutz Family and their Friends on a Terrace, 1725, oil on canvas, 1022 × 1257 mm, The Tate Britain, London. 64 Figure 2.4. Johann Friedrich Künnecke and Hans Casper von Bothmar, Schloss Bothmer, 1726 – 1732, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. 67 Figure 2.5. Christian Friedrich Zincke, Queen Caroline (Caroline of Ansbach, 1683 – 1737), Enamel on copper in gold frame with ivory backing, c. 1732, Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 74 Figure 2.6. Enoch Seeman, Daniel Cajanus (1702/03-1749), 1734, oil on canvas, 3150 x 1830 mm, National Museum of Finland, Helsinki. 79 Figure 3.1. Sir Godfrey Kneller, Charlotte Clayton, Baroness Sundon (c. 1742), oil on canvas, 1252 x 1016 mm, Private Collection. 89 Figure 3.2. James Worsdale, The Limerick Hell Fire Club, c.1736, oil on canvas, 1022 x 770 mm, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. 99 Figure 4.1. Simon Verelst, Still-Life of Flowers in a Glass Vase, c. 1680, oil on canvas, 762 x 635 mm, Philip Mould Historical Paintings, London. 130 Figure 4.2. Simon Gribelin, The Cartoon Gallery at Hampton Court: detail, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, 1720, engraving, full piece 187 x 220 mm, The British Museum, London. 136 Figure 4.3. Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (Raphael), The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, c. 1515 – 1516, Bodycolour over charcoal on many sheets of paper, mounted on canvas, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, 3190 x 3990 cm, London, since 1865 (formerly Hampton Court). 138 Figure 5.1. Martin Maingaud, Princesses Anne (1709-59), Amelia (1711-1786) and Caroline (1713-57), 1721, oil on canvas, 673 x 793 mm, Royal Collection (Kensington?). 153 Figure 5.2. Martin Maingaud, Prince Frederick (1707-1751) and Princess Amelia (1711-1786), c. 1720, oil on canvas, 1527 x 1200 mm, Royal Collection (Kensington?). 156 iv Figure 5.3. James Stephanoff, The Queen’s Drawing Room at Kensington Palace, 1817, watercolour over pencil, 19.9 x 25.1 cm, Royal Collection. 159 Figure 5.4. Jean Audran after Nicolas Poilly the elder, Description du Parnasse François: detail of ‘The Three Graces’, Antoinette Deshoulières (1637 – 1694), Henriette de la Suze (1618 -1673), and Madeleine de Scudéry (1607 – 1701), 1760 repr. after 1723 original, Pazzo Books, West Roxbury, Massachusetts. 162 Figure 5.5. Jacopo Tintoretto, The Muses, 1578, oil on canvas, 2067 x 3098 mm, The Royal Collection (Hampton Court). 181 Figure 6.1. Letter showing red wax censorship of contents, John Hervey to Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, dated St. James, 11 November 1732. Hervey MSS 941/47/4, 941/47/2, f. 239. Suffolk Record Office, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, U.K. 189 Figure 6.2 Dosso Dossi, Holy Family with Saints Anne and Joachim, c. 1527, Royal 202 Collection Figure 6.3. George White, after unknown artist, Frances Charteris (c. 1665 – 1732), after 1730, mezzotint, The National Portrait Gallery, London. 203 Figure 6.3. William Hogarth, A Scene from ‘The Beggar’s Opera’, VI, 1731, oil on canvas, 572 x 762 mm, The Tate Gallery, London. 215 Figure 7.1. François Chauveau, ‘La Montagne qui Accouche’, in Jean de La Fontaine, Illustrations des Fables choisies mises en Vers (Paris: Claude Barbin, 1668), engraving, p. 219. 225 Figure 7.2. Sir Godfrey Kneller, Portrait of Mary Calverley Sherard, Countess of Harborough (d.1702), oil on canvas, 1270 x 1020 cm, Philip Mould Historical Portraits, London. 234 Figure 7.3. Michael Rysbrack. Monument to Bennett Sherard (d.1732), Mary Calverley Sherard (d.1702) and their infant son (d.1702), 1732, marble, Stapleford, Leicestershire. 238 Figure 8.1. unknown artist (Jan Swart van Groningen?) after Michelangelo Buonarotti, The Rape of Ganymede, c. 1570 – 1630, oil on panel, 2207 x 1415 cm, The Royal Collection.254 Figure 8.2. Antonio Verrio, Ganymede and the Eagle, ceiling fresco: oil on plaster, late seventeenth century, Ham House, Richmond. 255 v Figure 8.3. Louis Laguerre, The Creation of Pandora: detail, Ganymede, oil on plaster, 1718 – 1720, Petworth House, East Sussex (The National Trust). 256 Figure 9.1. Anonymous, A Full and True Account of a Sharp and Bloody Duel, 1731, wood-cut engraving, The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. 267 Figure 9.2. Anonymous, Mr. Pulteney’s duel with Lord Hervey, 1731, mezzotint in sepia, 190 x 260 mm, The Lewis Walpole Library, Farmington, CT.