Half-length portrait of Mary Churchill seated at a table before a plain dark backdrop. Her proper right arm and hand support her head. Her other arm rests on open book of music lying before her. She is dressed in blue and wears a transparent veil with gold ornament. On her bodice she wears an elaborate brooch with pearls and gemstones. Her identity is inscribed as Lady Mary Churchill at the upper left corner and From the 1774 edition of Horace Walpole's Description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole, at Strawberry Hill: Lady Maria Walpole, only child of Sir Robert Walpole and Maria Skerret, and wife of Charles Churchill, only son of general Churchill; in a veil, with a music-book before her: by Eckardt. Formerly hung in the Refectory [Great Parlour] at Strawberry Hill
Alternative Title:
Lady Maria Walpole and Lady Mary Churchill
Description:
Title and artist from 2005 Christie's appraisal., Inscription in unknown hand, in top left corner: Lady Mary Churchill., and Text from the 1842 Catalogue of the classic contents of Strawberry Hill collected by Horace Walpole: A ditto [half length Portrait] of Lady Maria Walpole, only child of Sir Robert and Maria Skerret, and wife of Charles Churchill, only son of General Churchill. Eckardt. She is represented in a veil, with a music book before her, a very charming picture.
