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Notes
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Lawrence has depicted the 16-year old Emily Lamb as though in motion, her head turning back towards the viewer. The pose is one with a long tradition in the history of portraiture, but Lawrence has treated it with a freshness reflected in the informality and economy of his brushwork. He has captured the spirited young girl whom her brother William called ‘that little devil Emily’. The painting was commissioned by Emily’s father, Peniston Lamb, 1st Earl Melbourne, who can also be seen with his wife in the National Gallery in Stubbs’s The Milbanke and Melbourne Families, of about 1769. At 18 Emily married Peter Leopold Clavering-Cowper, 5th Earl Cowper, and went on to become an influential, politically prominent society hostess. Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, was a regular guest at Emily’s parties and salons, and the pair became lovers.
Title
Portrait of the Hon. Emily Mary Lamb (1787-1869), later Countess Cowper and Viscountess Palmerston
Date
1803
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 45.7 x W 50.8 cm
Accession number
NG6617
Acquisition method
Accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to the National Gallery, 2011
Work type
Painting