Oil on canvas depicting Mrs. Elrington, formerly Miss Charlotte Townshend, by Thomas Clement Thompson RHA. Britain, 19th century.

Mrs. Elrington, formerly Miss Charlotte Townshend, by Thomas Clement Thompson RHA (British, ca.1780, d. after 1858); oil on canvas;

Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend

Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend, 1868.

Extract from Parkinson, Ronald, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860. Victoria & Albert Museum, HMSO, London, 1990. p.xix.

'Chauncy Hare Townshend (1798-1868) was born into a wealthy family, only son of Henry Hare Townsend of Busbridge Hall, Godalming, Surrey. Educated at Eton and Trinity Hall, Cambridge (BA 1821). Succeeded to the family estates 1827, when he added 'h' to the Townsend name. He had taken holy orders, but while he always referred to himself as 'Rev.' on the title pages of his books, he never practised his vocation... . Very much a dilettante in the eighteenth-century sense, he moved in the highest social and literary circles; a great friend of Charles Dickens (he was the dedicatee of Great Expectations) with whom he shared a fascination of mesmerism... Bulwer Lytton described his life's 'Beau-deal of happiness' as 'elegant rest, travel, lots of money - and he is always ill and melancholy'. Of the many watercolours and British and continental oil paintings he bequeathed to the V&A, the majority are landscapes. He is the first identifiable British collector of early photographs apart from the Prince Consort, particularly landscape photography, and also collected gems and geological specimens.

Townsend owned three portraits in oil of members of his family. These included portraits of his Father Henry Hare Townsend (inventory number 1414-1869), a portrait of himself and his sister as children (inventory 1413-1869), both by Samuel Woodehouse, and this later portrait of his sister made following her marriage. The Townsend collection also included four portraits in pastel of members of the family by John Raphael Smith (1752-1812). The four pastels given to the V&A museum as part of the Townsend bequest are Mrs Henry Hare Townshend (nee Charlotte Lake) (invenotry number 1441-1869; The Rev. Joseph Townsehend of Pussey, Wiltshire(inventory number 1443-1869); The Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend (inventory number 1444-1869); and Miss Charlotte Townshend (inventory number 1442-1869).

For catalogue entries on the four pastels by John Raphael Smith of members of the Townshend family see:

Lambourne, L and Hamilton, J. Britishe Watercolours in the Victoria and Albert Museum: An illustrated Summary Catalogue of the NAtional Collection, (London, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1980), pp.355-6.

Historical significance: Thomas Clement Thompson, R.H.A, was born in Ireland in about 1780. He practiced as a portrait painter, exhibiting in Dublin from 1809 and in London from 1816 where he exhibited portraits at the Royal Academy and other institutions. He moved to London in 1818. In 1823 he became a founding member of the Royal Hibernian Academy. He ceased to exhibit in 1847.

Mrs. Elrington, formerly Miss Charlotte Townsend, was the daughter of Henry Hare Townsend (1765?-1827) of Busbridge Hall, Godalming, and Walpole, Norfolk and his wife, Charlotte Winter Lake (c.1770-1831), daughter of Sir James Winter Lake of Edmonston (b.1745). Her older brother was the poet and collector Chauncy Hare Townshend (1798-1868). This portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1824, no.24.

Mrs. Elrington is shown in this three-quarter portrait seated on a chair that has a curved back and low seat in the Regency style. The chair is placed in front of a red curtain that has been drawn back to the right to reveal a wooded landscape with distant hills on the left. This compositional device of a curtain backdrop had been employed in previous centuries and continued to be used by Thompson’s contemporaries including the leading portrait artist of the day, Sir Thomas Lawrence (1869-1830). It is also used by Thompson in other works in his oeuvre including his portrait Nicholas Robinson (circa 1828-9, Sudley House, Inventory WAG 6347). In Mrs Elrington the sitter is shown alert and looking out of the painting while her hands rest on her lap and the arm of her chair. This composition combines Mrs Elrington’s elegant poise with the relaxed placing of her arms to present the sitter in an informal way. The use of gesture to create a more natural presentation of women began to emerge in portraiture during the mid-eighteenth century in the works of two major artists of this genre, Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) and Thomas Gainsborough (1717-1788). In many ways Thompson’s Mrs Elrington recalls Gainsborough’s works such as Mrs Philip Thicknesse of 1760 (Cincinnati Art Museum). In this earlier portrait the casual posture of Mrs Philip Thicknesse as she rests her head on her arm whilst looking out of the portrait and the backdrop of a red curtain anticipate the composition of Thompson’s portrait from the next century. The trend for showing women in a relaxed manner in contemporary settings continued to occur in the opening decades of the nineteenth century. Perhaps the greatest protagonist of this was the most successful portrait artist of the day, Sir Thomas Lawrence. For example Lawrence’s portrait of Lady Anne Bloxam c.1824-5 (Kimbell Art Museum) shows the sitter in a pose similar to that adopted by Mrs Elrington. Again the sitter, dressed in the height of fashion with hair and clothes of similar style to those of Mrs Elrington’s. She is also shown against a red curtain, drawn back to reveal a landscape beyond. The close similarity between Mrs Elrington and Lawrence’s portraits shows how Thompson was looking to the work of the most successful portrait artist of his day to create works that were popular with his clients.

Mrs. Elrington wears a dress of light blue. The way that the fabric falls in to broad folds and catches the light suggests that it is probably silk. The dress has a high waste band with fastenings on either side of the chest recalling military coats, which influenced dress of both men and women in the early nineteenth century. The sleeves are puffed on the shoulder and gathered just below. A wide limp collar of fine cotton or linen falls over the neckline of the dress and cuffs of the same material can be seen protruding from the sleeves of the dress. The dress and hairstyle of Mrs Elrington would have been the height of fashion in the 1824 when this portrait was painted. The dress has slightly puffed sleeves and a waistband that is lower than that of the Empire line dresses of the first decade of the nineteenth century. Mrs. Elrington wears her hair in curls close to her head which also follows the fashion of the mid 1820s.

1425-1869