A Woman, perhaps Anne Palmer, Countess of Sussex

Physical description

Portrait of a woman, half-length, facing to front, head turned slightly to right; oval on a rectangular sheet. Features softly indicated in pale brown with some touches of grey-blue for the shadows, dark blue in the eyes and red in the lips, on a very pale off white carnation ground; hair in broad grey and dark brown 'rolls' over pale brown wash; lines of dress indicated in very pale brown wash; background a cloudy blue-grey wash to the right, to the left a solid dark brown; on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book.

Place of Origin

England, Great Britain (painted)

Date

1680-1685 (painted)

Artist/maker

Susannah Penelope Rosse, born 1647 - died 1700 (artist)

Materials and Techniques

Watercolour on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book

Marks and inscriptions

'L /Countess Sussex'

Dimensions

Height: 90 mm sheet, Width: 70 mm sheet, Height: 72 mm oval, Width: 58 mm oval

Object history note

Provenance: Presumably acquired from Cooper's estate by the Rosses, or perhaps by Priestman (see Rosse, Cat. No. 143) and perhaps in the Michael Rosse sale, 2 April 1723; eventually purchased by Edwin [Durning] Lawrence before 1862, and sold by him to the Museum for £525 in 1892.

Descriptive line

Portrait miniature of a woman, perhaps Anne Palmer, Countess of Sussex, watercolour on vellum by Susannah-Penelope Rosse, 1680-1685.

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Murdoch, John. Seventeenth-century English Miniatures in the Collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London: The Stationery Office in association with the Victoria & Albert Museum, 1997.
Cat. 139, p.241. Full Citation:

“139 Perhaps Anne Palmer, Countess of Sussex
(b.1662 d.1722)
1680-5
450-1892

Rectangular 90 x 70 mm with a drawn oval 72 x 58 mm

Features softly indicated in pale brown with some touches of grey-blue for the shadows, dark blue in the eyes and red in the lips, on a very pale off white carnation ground; hair in broad grey and dark brown 'rolls' over pale brown wash; lines of dress indicated in very pale brown wash; background a cloudy blue-grey wash to the right, to the left a solid dark brown; on vellum put down on a leaf from a table-book.

Condition: Rubbed and engrimed; a dark brown rub mark over centre of sitter's breast, probably resulting from conservation work in June 1902; otherwise sound; the whites treated for oxidation in September 1938.

Signed: Not signed. Inscribed on the back, in graphite: L /Countess Sussex.

Frame: From The Pocket Book, see Cat. No. 87 [460-1892].

Provenance: As for Cat. No. 88. [Presumably acquired from Cooper's estate by the Rosses, or perhaps by Priestman (see Rosse, Cat. No. 143) and perhaps in the Michael Rosse sale, 2 April 1723; eventually purchased by Edwin [Durning] Lawrence before 1862, and sold by him to the Museum for £525 in 1892.]

Exhibited: As for Cat. No. 88. [South Kensington 1862, no. 2531 (the set as Cooper); BFAC 1889, p. 133, case XLI, nos 1-15 (Cooper); V&A 1983, unnumbered.]

Literature: As for Cat. No. 88 [Williamson 1904, vol. I, pp. 51-2 (on the set, reproducing four by Rosse); Foster 1898, p. 40; Foster 1903, vol. I, p. 53 (tentatively attributing the set to Flatman); Foster 1908, p. 184 (as attributed to Cooper, but Foster would give some to Dixon; he now states that some give the poorer ones to Flatman); Catalogue of Miniatures , 1908, pp. 9-10 (as formerly attributed to Cooper); Goulding 1914-15, p. 49 (as Rosse); Long 1929, p. 377 (Rosse); Long 1930, pp. 65-6 (as by Rosse); Reynolds 1952, pp. 81-2 (Rosse); Foskett 1963, pp. 77-8; Foskett 1972, vo!. I, p. 481 (Rosse); Foskett 1974, p. 91 (Rosse); Reynolds 1975, specifically p. 9, no. 1, pl. 13; Foskett 1979, pp. 125-6 (following Reynolds 1975); Summary Catalogue , 1981, p. 9 (Cooper); V J Murrell, 'The Craft of the Miniaturist' , Murdoch 1981, p. 12, fig. 14 (as Cooper); V J Murrell, 'Technique and Practice', Strong 1983, p. 28, no. I; Reynolds 1988, p. 78 and specifically pp. 59 and 78.] for general references; specifically Reynolds 1975, pp. 15-6, no. 9, pl. 23.

The sitter is probably Anne (born Palmer, alias Fitzroy), Countess of Sussex. She was the daughter of Barbara (Villiers), Countess of Castlemaine and Duchess of Cleveland. Her paternity, which was claimed by her mother's husband Roger Palmer (son of Sir lames Palmer, q.v.), was acknowledged by the King by Royal Warrant in 1673, in the teeth of gossip which attributed the child nevertheless to Philip Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Chesterfield (1634-1713/14), whom she was said to resemble strongly.

On coiffure, and on what can be seen of the costume, the portrait dates from the early1680s, as observed by Reynolds (197 5).The inscription, which may therefore be later, could not referto Anne (Palmer 1 Fitzroy ) before 5 October 1684, when Thomas Lennard, Baron Dacre (1653-1715), who had married Anne in 1674 when she was twelve, was created Earl of Sussex. Until 1680, the title Countess of Sussex was borne by the widow of lames Savile, 2nd Earl of Sussex (1647-1 671), of the previous creation. Her name was also Anne (born Wake, the daughter of an Antwerp merchant), and she died in June 1680. She could just about have been the sitter for this miniature.

A portrait also described as The Countess of Sussex was no. 190 on the fourth day of the Rosse sale. (1) If this was of the same sitter as the present miniature, the sitter must be Anne (Palmer /Fitzroy) . At the date of the sale in 1723, she had only recently died; there was no one else entitled to call herself Countess of Sussex until Talbot Yelverton, 1st Earl of the next creation, married Lucy Pelham in 1726.

1 Foskett 1974, p.104."

Exhibition History

Artists of the Tudor Court: the portrait miniature rediscovered, 1520-1620 (Victoria and Albert Museum 09/07/1983-06/11/19833)
Exhibition of Portrait Miniatures (Burlington Fine Arts Club 1889-1889)
Special Exhibition of Works of Art at the South Kensington Museum (Victoria and Albert Museum 1862-1862)

Materials

Watercolour; Vellum

Techniques

Painting

Subjects depicted

Woman; Palmer, Anne (Countess of Sussex)

Categories

Portraits; Paintings

Collection code

PDP