From Horace Walpole's 1784 edition of Description of the villa, he describes the Beauclerk drawings thus: "The beauty and grace of the figures and of the children are inimitable; the expression of the passions most masterly, particularly in the devotion of the countess with the porter, of Benedict in the scene with Martin, and the tenderness, despair, and resolution of the countess in the last scene; in which is a new stroke of double passion in Edmund, whose right hand is clenched and ready to strike with anger, the left hand relents. In the scene of the children, some are evidently vulgar, the others children of rank; and the first child, that pretends to look down and does leer upwards, is charming. Only two scenes are represented in all the seven, and yet all are varied; and the ground in the first, by a very uncommon effect, evidently descends and rises again. These sublime drawings are the first histories she ever attempted, were all conceived and executed in a fortnight."
Description:
Title, date and artist name written by Horace Walpole on the verso, in ink., One of six Beauclerk drawings for Mysterious mother in The Lewis Walpole Library., and Lady Diana Beauclerk, English artist, 1734-1808.
