Emma Hart, Lady Hamilton as a Bacchante (c1765-1815)
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Oil half-length portrait of Lady Hamilton (Emma Hart) as a Bacchante. Emma wears a white shawl over a yellow dress and an ivy wreath in her tousled hair. Her body faces the right and she turns her head to look at the viewer; she brings a finger to her lips. Trees and a stormy sky fill the background.
The dealer Agnew's sold Ferdinand de Rothschild this painting as an original Reynolds in 1888. It is actually a copy painted by John Rising, a portraitist and restorer. Joshua Reynolds exhibited the original at the Royal Academy in 1784 as 'A Bacchante'. It was bought by William Hamilton who identified it as a portrait of his future wife, Emma Hart.
The bacchante were female followers of the Roman god of wine infamous for their wild revelry during the worship of Bacchus. Lady Hamilton was born Amy Lyon, but she went by the name of Emma Hart. She was a famous mistress of several gentlemen including Nelson. She married Sir William Hamilton in 1791. She met Nelson in 1793 and in 1801 she gave birth to his daughter. Hamilton bought Reynolds's original painting in 1784. Six years later it is listed in his possessions under the title of 'Portrait of Lady Hamilton'.
Emma was painted many times, particularly by George Romney. This composition falls between portraiture and a 'fancy picture' - meaning figures depicted picturesquely posed and dressed. It uses the mythological subject to comment on Emma Hart's character as a somewhat wild personality. Reynolds pictured Emma provocatively addressing the viewer, one finger touching her lips. The pose is reminiscent of the seductive Muse of Comedy that features in Reynolds's portrait of David Garrick, also at Waddesdon (acc. no. 102.1995).
Phillippa Plock, 2011
Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)
762 x 635
738 x 620 - sight
Signature & date
not signed or dated
Provenance
- Painted and owned by John Rising (d.1817); acquired by Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (b.1780, d.1863) in the posthumous sale of John Rising's pictures; by descent to Henry Fitzmaurice 5th Marquess of Lansdowne (b.1845, d.1927); acquired as by Reynolds from the Marquess of Lansdowne at Bowood by Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd before 1888; sold by Agnews to Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (b.1839, d.1898) 27 November 1888 for £17,000 and part exchange along with 'Mrs Sheridan'; inherited by his sister Alice de Rothschild (b.1847, d.1922); inherited by her great-nephew James de Rothschild (b.1878, d.1957); bequeathed to Waddesdon (National Trust) in 1957.
Collection
- Waddesdon (National Trust)
- Bequest of James de Rothschild, 1957
Bibliography
- Anna Jameson; Companion to the Most Celebrated Private Galleries of Art; London; Saunders and Otley; 1844; p. 168
- Ellis Waterhouse, The English Pictures at Waddesdon Manor, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 54, August 1959, 49-56; p. 52
- Ellis Waterhouse, Anthony Blunt; Paintings: The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor; Fribourg; Office du Livre, The National Trust; 1967; p. 95, cat. no. 34; as c. 1785
- David Mannings, Martin Postle; Sir Joshua Reynolds: a Complete Catalogue of his Paintings; 2 vols; London; Yale University Press; 2000; p. 237, no. 817a
Subject person
- Lady Emma Hamilton, Sitter