Oil on canvas, 'An Unknown Lady', British School, late 17th or early 18th century

Portrait of a lady in a painted oval, half length, facing the viewer, head turned slightly to the viewer’s left, wearing a red gown with a wide neckline and full sleeves over a white chemise with silver grey drapery around the shoulders and passing under the sitter’s right arm from the left side. The sitter’s dark hair is worn in loose curls swept back from the forehead and over the right shoulder.

Bequeathed by Miss Emily Anna Evans

Bequeathed in 1902 by Miss Emily Anne Evans.

444-1902 was bequeathed along with two other oil paintings (museum numbers 443-1902 and 445-1902) and a collection of china, ornaments and clocks. It was agreed to accept the three paintings as although they were not seen as being ‘of sufficient quality for the Picture Gallery’ it was felt that ‘they are sufficiently good in character’ to be used in the museum’s ‘furnished rooms’. Miss Evans will (held in the V&A registered file) notes that all three paintings hung in her Drawing Room at her home in Hamilton Terrace, Chester.

This oil painting of an unknown woman is characteristic of portraiture in Britain in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. British painting during the seventeenth century was dominated by a foreign-born artists, primarily portraitists, who in the second half of the century included Dutch-born Sir Peter Lely and German-born Sir Godfrey Kneller. Lely and Kneller were the pre-eminent portrait painters of the period. Lely became Painter in Ordinary to Charles II in 1661 and was succeeded by Kneller in 1680. Their work established a style of portraiture which was followed by artists in Britain until the early eighteenth century. Particularly influential were the full-length portraits of contemporary Beauties in fashionable ‘undress’, painted by both artists. Those by Lely, including his portrait of ‘Mary Bagot, Countess of Falmouth and Dorset (1645-79)’ (RCIN 404958, Royal Collection Trust) are known as the ‘Windsor Beauties’. While those painted a generation later by Kneller and including ‘Mary Compton, Countess of Dorset (1669-91)’ (RCIN 404724, Royal Collection Trust) are known as the ‘Hampton Court Beauties’.

During the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the prevailing artistic interest in classical antiquity and mythological themes led artists to paint fashionable sitters in a timeless style of dress. This imagined costume was based, albeit loosely, on the informal gown worn by women as a morning ‘undress’; a comfortable, more casual style of gown usually worn during the early part of the day. However, the ‘nightgown’ loosely fastened over a voluminous chemise typified by Kneller’s portrait of Dorothy Mason, Lady Brownlow (1685, National Trust, Belton House) is not representative of anything actually worn in public. In the V&A portrait, the sitter’s wide-necked gown, fastened low with a pearl pin over a chemise, follows this fashion for ‘undress’, albeit to a conservative extent.

The fashion for portraying female sitters in ‘undress’ persisted into the early eighteenth century and can be seen in the work of artist’s including Michael Dahl (1659-1743). (Another painting from the Emily Anna Evans Bequest (443-1902) has been attributed to Dahl). Although Dahl painted a large number of oval bust-length portraits of woman in fashionable undress and favoured the use of similar silver tones (Michael Dahl, Grove Art Online), 444-1902 is not sufficiently accomplished to be attributed to him. The composition and the manner in which the face is painted, in particular the tilt of the head, strong nose and dark eyes suggest that the V&A portrait is by a follower of Dahl. Regardless of attribution, this painting is typical of British portraiture during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

This painting of an unknown lady is typical of British portraiture of the late 17th and early 18th centuries and follows the style developed by leading artists such as Peter Lely, Godfrey Kneller and Michael Dahl. The sitter is depicted wearing a loose wide-necked gown, fastened low over a chemise. This was an imaginary style dress and would not have been worn in public. Instead it was developed by artists like Lely and Kneller and reflects the growing interest in Classical antiquity and mythology. It became fashionable during this period for women to be painted wearing ‘undress’, as in this portrait.

444-1902