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Portrait sketch
Eastlake, Elizabeth - Enlarge image
Portrait sketch
- Place of origin:
England, Great Britain (made)
- Date:
1831 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Eastlake, Elizabeth (Lady), born 1809 - died 1893 (artist)
- Materials and Techniques:
Pencil on paper
- Museum number:
E.1009-1945
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 120, case 15
Object Type
This is a drawing in graphite on paper by an accomplished amateur artist, Elizabeth Rigby. It shows an unknown fashionable young lady and is probably a portrait of a friend or relative of the artist. Rigby's initials 'ER' can be seen lower-right, with the date of the sitting: 'April 17 1831'.
People
Elizabeth Rigby was the daughter of a Norwich doctor. She was taught drawing and watercolour by the local Norwich artist John Sell Cotman (1782-1842), who, like many artists, supplemented his meagre income from commissions by teaching. Though Rigby became a notable writer, particularly on travel and art, she never referred to her former teacher. And despite her success as a writer, she once told a friend that she preferred to paint. In 1849 she became Lady Eastlake on her marriage to the Royal Academician and Director of the National Gallery, London, Sir Charles Eastlake.
Ownership & Use
In 1831, when this portrait was drawn, Rigby was living with her mother at Framingham, south-east of Norwich, having returned from a two-year trip to Germany in 1829. Portraiture, of course, was a favourite genre for many amateur artists. But, just as many well-to-do artistic women and men did before photography became a popular hobby, Rigby also recorded her travels in Britain and abroad.
