A Previously-Unpublished Gilbert Stuart Portrait of Emily, Duchess of Leinster

(this post is pressented by Jeanne Grimsby)
Gilbert Stuart was born in Rhode Island in 1755 and moved to Scotland in 1771 at the age of 16 to study with Cosmo Alexander. Following the death of Alexander, Stuart returned to Rhode Island in 1773. He moved to England in 1775. There, he developed a successful career but was plagued by financial difficulties that caused him to flee to Ireland in 1787. He remained in Ireland until 1793, when he again fled mounting debt and returned to the United States. During his time in Ireland, he painted these portraits of the Second Duke of Leinster, and of the Dukes’s mother, the Dowager Duchess of Leinster.

In 1787, the year he arrived in Ireland, Stuart painted this portrait of William Robert Fitzgerald, Second Duke of Leinster, wearing the Order of Saint Patrick:

Formerly the property of the Montclair Art Museum, it was sold in 2010 to benefit the Acquisition Endowment Fund.

Stuart’s Portrait of Emily, Duchess of Leinster 

Five years after painting his portrait of the Second Duke of Leinster, Stuart painted this previously-unpublished portrait of his mother. Emily [Lady Emilia Mary Lennox], the Dowager Duchess of Leinster was a woman whose life was even more eventful than Stuart’s own. Born in 1731, Emily was the second of the famous Lennox sisters, daughters of Charles Lennox, Second Duke of Richmond, and illegitimately descended from King Charles II of England. At fifteen, she married James FitzGerald, Earl of Kildare, and went to live in Ireland. The marriage was a happy one despite Lord Kildare's constant infidelities, and the couple had nineteen children. After the death of Lord Kildare in 1773, the Duchess caused a sensation by marrying her children's tutor, William Ogilvie, with whom she had begun an affair some years earlier. Ogilvie was the natural father of her youngest son from her first marriage. A further three children were born to them after their marriage. Twelve of her 22 children predeceased her. She died on 27 March 1814 in Grosvenor Square, London.

The simple background includes the suggestion of a chair with red damask upholstery. The sitter’s hands are summarily indicated as a pinkish blur in the lower left. The supposed date of c.1792 begs the question of Stuart’s completion of the costume and background, as he left many unfinished portraits behind when he fled from Ireland in 1793. However, the cursory nature of the work in those areas would seem to suggest that Stuart completed this painting himself.

Until 1952, this painting was in the collection at Oakly Park, Celbridge, Co Kildare, once the home of Sarah Lennox, Emily’s sister. It was sold in 1952 by Tormeys Auction Rooms Dublin in an estate dispersal. The painting descended in the family of the purchaser until about 2002. It was bought from a London dealer by the current owner.

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a portrait of a young Lady EMILY LENNOX

artist unknown

[The Stuart portraits mentioned here are not listed in the Lawrence Park volumes.  However, Edward, Lord Fitzgerald (1763-1798) is. Stuart often painted extended family members. The portrait of young Edward depicts a dashing modern young man.  He is also a son of Emily. Watch for this upcoming post!]