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Lady Melbourn.
Elizabeth Lamb, Viscountess Melbourne (née Milbanke; 1751 – 1818).
The Marble bust by Anne Seymour Damer.
1784.
The bust was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1784.
A terracotta of the bust was said to have been seen in the Collection of Earl Cowper at Panshanger
See Horace Walpole Corresp. 12, 272 and H.W. Anecdotes Page 237.
Walpole lists it with terracottas of her cousin Miss Caroline Campbell and Georgiana Spencer the Duchess of Devonshire? Large as life.(info Benforado).
Elizabeth Milbanke married Whig politician Peniston Lamb, 1st Viscount Melbourne (1745 - 1828) on 13 April 1769. He was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Lord Melbourne, Baron of Kilmore, in 1770, and Viscount Melbourne, in 1781.
As well as Melbourne House, Piccadilly designed by William Chambers now known as the Albany, the family had country residences at Brocket Hall, in Hertfordshire, and Melbourne Hall, in Derbyshire.
In 1791, Lord Melbourne, who by then had built up considerable debts to fund his and his wife's extravagant lifestyle, downsized by exchanging Melbourne House for Dover House, Whitehall (now a government office) with the recently married Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, who required a larger property in order to "entertain in style".
It was in turn converted into bachelor chambers / apartments in 1802.
She was the mother of William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, who became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and several other influential children. Lady Melbourne was known for her political influence and her friendships and romantic relationships with other members of the English aristocracy, including Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford, and George, Prince of Wales.
Because of her
numerous love affairs, the paternity of several of her children is a matter of some dispute.
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The Triple Portraits of Lady Melbourne, Georgiana Spencer, and Anne Seymour Damer,
by Daniel Gardner (1750 - 1805).
1775.
National Portrait Gallery.
The Three Witches around the Cauldron.
The three witches from Macbeth painted in
1775 by Daniel Gardner, a commentary on their influence at court and in
political circles in the late 18th century.
On her seventeenth birthday, 7 June 1774, Lady Georgiana
Spencer was married to society's most eligible bachelor, William Cavendish, the
5th Duke of Devonshire, who was nine years her senior.
The Milbanke and Melbourne Families'
with Lady Lamb's Father , Sir Ralph Milbanke next to her, and Her Brother John Milbanke
by George Stubbs.
H 97.2 x W 147.3 cm
National Gallery. - bought 1975.
The Painting was
commissioned to commemorate the marriage of Elizabeth Milbanke and her husband Peniston Lamb.
Image courtesy art uk website
A dedication around a crest bearing the motto 'Virtue et
Fide' to Lord Melbourne and 'J: Reynolds Eques pinxt. / J: Finlayson sculpt. /
Publish'd Augst: 16th: 1771, & Sold by J. Finlayson, Orange Street
Leicester Fields.'
The sitter was the wife of 1st Viscount Melbourne, Gentleman
of the Bechamber (1783-1795) and Lord of the Bedchamber (1812-1828) to the
Prince of Wales, whose mistress she became. She was the mother of 2nd Viscount
Melbourne (1779-1848), the Prime Minister and favourite of Queen Victoria. Lady
Melbourne was, according to Byron, not only 'captivating' but 'sagacious'. The
date of the portrait, c. 1784, is suggested by the sitter's age and costume.
She is shown in a Jacobean fancy dress typical of the Romantic period and of
Cosway's art.
Provenance
Probably painted for George IV; recorded in store at Carlton
House in 1816 (no 296) and 1819 (no 322); in the Grand Corridor at Windsor
Castle by 1858
published 10 Feb 1775.
