Bath, Art and Architecture: 07/12/24

Friday 12 July 2024

1.The Female Portrait Sculpture of the 18th Century. Relief of an Unknown sitter by an Anonymous Sculptor.

Women - Portrait Sculpture of the 18th Century.

Part 1, of an occasional Series.

A Terracotta Relief of an Unknown Lady.

Private Collection.

Here suggested as perhaps a portrait of Princess Maria Fourth Daughter of George II. (1723 - 1772).

and attributed to Louis Francois Roubiliac

I have known of the fabulous, brutally honest portrait for quite a few years - I managed to miss it when it appeared with a Bath dealer.

The identity of the sitter eluded me but it has bothered me since I first encountered her

The prominent mole on her upper lip should have been a give away but the temptation of artists at the time to idealise their sitters made the task difficult.

It was only whilst searching for information on Arthur Pond whilst leafing through Selling Art in Georgian London, The Rise of Arthur Pond by Louise Lippincott pub Yale 1983 that I came across the mezzotint by Faber of the portrait of Princess Maria by Arthur Pond.

Whilst not certain the evidence of the mole on her upper lip is to me fairly conclusive.

If any reader knows differently please contact me.

....................

Mary, Landgravine of Hesse-Cassel, when princess Mary, c.1740.

The Engraving by Arthur Pond. 1701 - 58.

Mezzotint by Faber.

The two image below from the Royal Academy.

Image below cropped from the British Museum mezzotint.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1902-1011-1730

Princess Mary (1723-72) was the seventh child and fourth daughter of George II and Caroline of Ansbach. After her mother's death in 1737, Mary was brought up by her elder sister, Princess Caroline.

In 1740, she was described as 'a lover of reading and far more solicitous to improve the mind than to adorn the body'. Horace Walpole, who had played with her when they were both children, said she had 'the softest, mildest temper in the world'.

When she was 17, a marriage was arranged for her with Prince Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel (1720–85) and they had four children.

The marriage was unhappy, and Frederick was said to be "brutal" and "a boor". Frederick reportedly subjected Mary to spousal abuse.

In late 1746, Mary made an extended trip to Britain? to escape his maltreatment. The couple separated in 1754 on Frederick's conversion to Roman Catholicism.

She was supported by her father-in-law, who provided her with a residence in Hanau, as she did not wish to return to Great Britain, but to stay on the continent to raise her children.

In 1756, Mary moved to Denmark, to take care of the children of her sister Louise of Great Britain, who had died in 1751. She took her children with her, and they were raised at the royal court and her sons were married to Danish princesses.

Her husband succeeded his father as Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel in 1760, and so Mary was technically Landgravine consort for the last twelve years of her life, despite her estrangement from her husband.

Mary did not return to England but stayed with her children, supported by her father-in-law, Wilhelm VIII, who provided a residence for her at Hanau. She died at Hanau on 14 January 1772.

Princess Maria the Mezzotint Arthur Pond.

Title re engraved to read Consort to Frederick Prince of Hesse.

The mole is still quite clearly visible.

Royal Collection.