Frances Susanna, Lady de Dunstanville
Thomas Gainsborough·c. 1786
Historical Context
Frances Susanna, Lady de Dunstanville, painted around 1786, is the companion portrait to Lord de Dunstanville, depicting his wife in a complementary composition. The lady’s elegant dress and graceful pose exemplify Gainsborough’s ability to present female sitters as embodiments of refined beauty. The silvery palette and fluid brushwork of these late portraits represent the pinnacle of Gainsborough’s technical achievement. The paired portraits at the National Gallery of Art provide a complete example of the husband-and-wife commission format that was one of the most important types of portraiture in Georgian England.
Technical Analysis
The portrait complements its pendant in pose and lighting direction, with the lady turning toward her husband's portrait. The delicate treatment of the face and costume reflects Gainsborough's particular sensitivity in female portraiture, with soft, luminous flesh tones.
Look Closer
- ◆Look at the delicate treatment of the dress — Gainsborough renders Frances Susanna's costume with the feathery, atmospheric touch of his late manner, the fabric suggesting softness and refinement.
- ◆Notice the complementary pose that makes this pendant to her husband's portrait — the couple designed to face each other when hung together, their compositional relationship creating a dialogue.
- ◆Observe the warm, silvery palette — Gainsborough's late female portraits have a characteristic cool, silvery harmony that creates the impression of refined, aristocratic elegance.
- ◆Find the atmospheric background — soft and indistinct, connecting Frances Susanna to the natural world while keeping the focus on her face and figure.
Provenance
Commissioned by the sitter's husband, Francis Basset,[1] and probably remained in his family, descending through the owners of Tehidy, the family estate near Camborne, Cornwall, to A.F. Basset; sold 1907 to (Asher Wertheimer, London). (Thos. Agnew and Sons, London), in 1908.[2] Sir George Donaldson [1845-1925], London; sold to William Andrews Clark [1839-1925], New York, by 1916;[3] bequest 1926 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art. [1] When Francis Basset had portraits of himself (NGA 2014.79.705) and his wife painted around 1786, he was 1st baron Basset of Stratton. He was created 1st baron de Dunstanville a decade later, in 1796. [2] The date of the Basset sale to Wertheimer and the date when the painting was with Agnew's are from Ellis Waterhouse, "Preliminary Check List of Portraits by Thomas Gainsborough," _Walpole Society_ 33 [1948-1950] (1953): 33, and Ellis Waterhouse, _Gainsborough_, London, 1958: 64, no. 219. The "A.F. Basset" name given by Waterhouse is most likely Arthur Francis Basset (1873-1950), the fourth owner of Tehidy after the sitter, who sold the estate in 1915. The entry for the painting in Dana H. Carroll, _Catalogue of Objects of Fine Art and Other Properties at the Home of William Andrews Clark, 962 Fifth Avenue_, Part I, unpublished manuscript, n.d. (1925): 141, no. 91, lists M. Knoedler and Co., Inc., New York, but not Basset or Agnew's. [3] Letter, 27 March 1916, Clark to C. Powell Minnigerode of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, in which he mentions the two Gainsboroughs that Minnigerode "saw in my gallery"; copy in NGA curatorial files.
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