Can't get enough Clot? Mythosidhe was so besotted with the charms of Mary Worsley Montagu's lost fiance that she did us all the favor of researching the face to go with that notorious name. Everyone should check out her post.Joshua Reynolds painted this hunk and despite the humourous subject matter, you have to admit, it's a very nice portrait. To think, Mary actually rejected him; she must have been crazy! She could have led the exciting life of Mary Skeffington and never had to bother exploring Turkey or bringing the Smallpox inoculation to Europe. But no, she made her rash decision and had to pay for that mistake with her many amazing adventures and celebrity lifestyle.
Thanks for the find Mythosidhe!
Thanks, that was super fast work. Old Clotworthy is finally going to get his 15 minutes. (Look out Mr Darcy! ;)
ReplyDeleteIt is a nice portrait and I always like to see pets included. All black is unusual. Mourning or affectation?
Don't even get me started on petsin portraits, I did a whole graduate paper on them! Somehow I missed this one in my research...
ReplyDeleteI think the coat is actually a deep green or blue, its hard to tell from my baby copy but I think the pink background of Mythosidhe's site made it more apparent. You know those tricky colors!
Ah, green. It all becomes clear. I know you've posted about animals in portraits before, but I still think it would make a nice series. Just in case you run out of hats, perish the thought.
ReplyDeleteOh Clotworthy, now there's a man!!
ReplyDeleteClotworthy is kind of cute. Pets in portraits....have you done any posts on that yet? Would love to read it. One of my favorite little books is "Reigning Cats and Dogs."
ReplyDeleteYes! Dogs in 18th c art is one of my favorite subjects, so I have some posts under that tag. I'm working on a series of it now since I have a lot of fun info. So stayed tuned!
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