Oil painting, Portrait of a lady, possibly Miss Ann Teresa Fleming, British School, c.1783-85

Portrait of a lady, three-quarter length, turned to face the viewer three-quarters to the left, wearing a white spotted muslin dress with a brown bodice, the sleeves trimmed with lace, also a white shawl trimmed in lace and jewelled earrings. Arms folded in front, wearing one long white glove and holding another. Also holding a card with the figure of a dancing lady in red ink (the invitation in the painting is held horizontally to the viewer and is more readily identifiable under magnification). A small table with patterned cloth, inkstand and pile of papers in the right foreground. Behind the figure to the right is a red swag curtain and to the left, the base of a column and sky with clouds.

Purchased, 1881

Purchased, 27 June 1881 from William Jabez Mückley, Fairfax House, Withington, near Manchester, for £300.

William Jabez Mückley was a noted British still-life artist of the second half of the 19th century. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1859-1904. He also had a distinguished career with the Government Art Schools, teaching at Burslem School of Art, before becoming headmaster of Wolverhampton Art School and subsequently principal at the Manchester School of Art. See V&A Museum no. 331-1905 for an example of the artists work and more information.

This portrait has been identified as being of Miss Ann Teresa Fleming (c.1745 - 1823) based on the card held by the sitter, identified as an invitation to ‘Miss Fleming’s Ball’. A copy of the same invitation, engraved by Thomas Bonner in 1781 and featuring a dancing female figure with a garland of flowers, is held in the British Museum (Museum no. C. 2. 159). A photograph of the invitation is held in the departmental object file (the invitation in the painting is held horizontally to the viewer and is more readily identifiable under magnification).

The invitation relates to a twice yearly ball held in Bath by Miss Fleming of John Street, who ran a well-known dance school from the late 1770s until 1805. Miss Fleming was the daughter of Francis Fleming (d. 1778), a member of the King’s Band and dancing-master of Bath. An obituary notice in The Bath and Cheltenham Gazette dated 11 February 1823, (a transcription of which is held in the departmental object file), notes that Miss Fleming studied dancing in Paris in 1767 and again in 1769. Advertisements in the Bath Chronicle beginning in 1769 (copies of which are held in the departmental file) show that Miss Fleming assisted her father before establishing her own dance school following his death in 1778. A label on the reverse of a portrait miniature attributed to Peter Paillon and identified as the same sitter, describes Miss Fleming as “a famous toast in Bath in her young days, afterwards a dancing mistress” (the miniature was stolen from its private owner in 1994, a photograph is held in the departmental object file). A lithograph after a drawing entitled ‘Miss Fleming of Bath, aged 76, 1821’ is held in the Bath Central Library Collection (Hunt Vol III, p.201) and has also been identified as the same sitter. She is described on the mount as “Celebrated in the Profession of Dancing. Daughter of F. Fleming Esq. of the King’s Band”. It is plausible that all three portraits identified as Miss Fleming depict the same woman, although at different stages of life.

The V&A portrait is dated c.1783 - 85 on the basis of the sitter’s very fashionable dress. Dating to an exact year is not possible as most fashions had a span of several years, particularly major garments, which were a considerable investment. However, the bouffant hair style with ringlets and large starched kerchief worn around the neck were fashionable from c.1783 until around 1787. Elbow length sleeves were fashionable between 1781 and 1785, at which point longer sleeves became popular. It is therefore likely that the portrait identified as Miss Fleming was painted between c.1783 and 1785. Miss Fleming would have been aged between thirty eight and forty at the time.

The miniature, dated c.1790 would appear to depict Miss Fleming at around forty five years old, while the inscription on the mount of the Bath drawing states that Miss Fleming was 76 at the time the portrait was made. Although the three portraits show Miss Fleming at differing ages, the facial features, in particular the nose, chin and somewhat weighty cheek and jawline are recognisable in each.

Miss Fleming and her sister, who also taught at the school, held twice yearly balls in the spring and winter at the Lower Assembly Rooms, Bath. Advertisements relating to these balls were printed in the Bath Chronicle (copies of which are held in the departmental file) and in addition to the engraved invitation, the British Museum also holds two scholars tickets for a ball in 1797 (Museum nos. C.2.157 and C.2.158 – Photographs of both are held in the V&A departmental object file).

From a copy of Miss Fleming’s will, (a transcription of which is held in the departmental file), it is clear that she was a prominent figure in Bath society during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Sir George Gibbs M.D., who acted as a witness to her will, had attended Queen Charlotte on her visit to take the waters in Bath in 1817. The will also mentions the Stoner, Blount and Canning families who were connected to the Barons of Camoys. Additionally, Miss Fleming’s obituary in The Bath and Cheltenham Gazette records that her dance pupils included “the late Duchess of Devonshire, her lovely sister Lady Besborough [sic], with nearly half the coroneted Belles (now dust!) whose bashful graces were the ornament of a modest Court during the reign of George III” (The Bath and Cheltenham Gazette, Tuesday 11th February 1823)

Miss Fleming’s will notes a number of paintings and drawings, including a crayon drawing by Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830). Miss Fleming is thought to have corresponded with Lawrence and a letter relating to the crayon drawing was published in Sir Thomas Lawrence’s Letter-bag (see departmental file for copy). However, there is no record of V&A Museum no. 223-1881 in Miss Fleming’s will.

A number of possible attributions have been proposed for this painting. In 1915 it was suggested that the portrait may be a late work by William Hogarth (1697-1764) or a work by Tilly Kettle (1735-1786). However these attributions were refuted by Basil Long (Keeper of the Department of Paintings at the V&A in the early 20th century) and Carl Winter (Curator of Painting at the V&A in the early 20th century) respectively. In 1930, art historian Clare Stuart-Wortley, who first identified the sitter as Miss Fleming, suggested the portrait may be by Italian artist Domenico Pellegrini (1759-1840) on the basis of similarities in technique to his extant portrait of Francesco Bartolozzi (Gallerie dell' Accademia, Venice). However, Pellegrini did not arrive in England until 1792, sometime after this portrait is thought to have been painted. Clare Stuart-Wortley also suggested that the portrait may be an early work by Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) on the basis of similarities to Lawrence’s portrait of Mr Thomas Masters (Christie’s 19/05/1911, Lot 91).

In 1932, Long considered it possible that the portrait may be attributed to John Hoppner (1758-1830). In 1934, Winter argued that the portrait could convincingly be attributed to Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828). He based this attribution on similarities in pose, décor and technique between known works by Stuart and the V&A portrait of Miss Fleming. For example, the base of the column and swagged red curtain regularly appear in Stuart’s portraits. He also frequently painted his sitters turned three quarters to the viewer’s left with arms folded in front, although this pose was most common in his seated, half-length figures. Of the technique of the V&A portrait, Winter writes:

Thin, rather hurriedly painted, with thick impasto to pick out highlights and define the texture and surface of muslins, laces, and silks, is characteristic of Stuart. His work of that period shows a very singular treatment of hair, and drawing of faces, with a tendency to accentuate the fleshy tip of the nose, the full underlip, soft rounded contour of the cheek, and similar construction and treatment of the eyes (n.b. the clear light iris, dark pupil with white dot). (Carl Winter, 11 April 1932, unpublished notes, departmental file.)

Stuart-Wortley made a further possible attribution to a pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792). This was based on the inclusion of a distinctive three bottle silver ink-stand positioned on top of a sheaf of papers (not identifiable) on the table beside the sitter. This motif also appears in Reynolds’ 1786 portrait of Thomas, Lord Erskine (Royal Collection) and in his portrait of John Barker, also dated 1786 and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Elements are similar in all three portraits, with the ink stand and papers positioned on a table covered with a distinctive red, green and blue patterned cloth, the colours of which blur murkily together in all three paintings. Although the portrait of Lord Erskine is dated 1786, the first record of the sitter appears in Reynolds’ ledger in 1783, it is therefore possible that the props seen in all three portraits were in his studio before 1786. In the portrait identified as Miss Fleming and in that of Lord Erskine, a red swag curtain covers three-quarters of the background while in the portrait of John Barker, as in that of Miss Fleming, the base of a column and a clouded sky form a backdrop to the sitter’s right. However, these are more conventional motifs found in the work of a number of artists during this period.

An examination of Reynolds’ ledger for the period records a ‘Miss Fleming’ on 25 November 1775, however this is believed to relate to one of Reynolds’ two full length portraits of Jane Stanhope, Countess of Harrington, previously Miss Jane Fleming (Harewood House). The size of the canvas of Museum no. 223-1881 exactly fits those used by Reynolds’ for his ‘half-length’ (to the knees) portraits, however to date no record of Miss Fleming of John Street, Bath has been found in Reynolds’ ledgers or pocket books (RA Archive, REY/1Pocketbooks1757-1790).

Reynolds operated a studio system whereby he would produce preliminary sketches of the composition for a painting from several sittings. This would then be transferred, probably by his principle studio assistant Giuseppe Marchi, on to canvas. Marchi would block out the larger areas of colour before Reynolds began work on the likeness. An assistant specialising in drapery or landscape would then work on the backdrop. James Northcote wrote in his 1813 Life of Reynolds that he had often painted landscapes into his Master’s works. Once the background was finished, Reynolds would then carry out any retouching himself.

Reynolds was probably the most imitated artist of the eighteenth century and his studio practice gave his many pupils and assistants the opportunity to study the master’s work closely. This has led to the work of several artists being wrongly attributed to Reynolds in the past. Artists whose work most closely resembles Reynolds’ style during the late 1770s and 1780s include Thomas Beach, John Berridge, William Doughty and occasionally James Northcote. The early works of John Hoppner have also been confused with the later works of Reynolds.

The evidence of the invitation to Miss Fleming’s Ball strongly suggests that the sitter in this portrait can be identified as Miss Ann Teresa Fleming, particularly as the invitation is undated and does not therefore relate to a specific ball, but rather to Miss Fleming’s twice yearly balls in general. Comparison to other known portraits of Miss Fleming supports this identification, as does the dating of the painting. While a conclusive attribution to a specific artist is not possible at this time, the inclusion of the distinctive silver inkstand and patterned table cloth, recognisable from several known works by Reynolds of this period, suggest that the V&A portrait may have been painted in Reynolds’ studio.

This portrait has been identified as depicting Miss Ann Teresa Fleming, a renowned dance mistress and prominent figure in the Bath society in the late 18th century. Miss Fleming is shown holding an invitation to one of the fashionable society balls she held annually in Bath’s Assembly Rooms. Her fashionable dress and hair-style demonstrate Miss Fleming’s wealth and position in Georgian high-society. It is possible that the portrait was painted in the studio of leading society portraitist Joshua Reynolds.

223-1881