Label TextThe Scottish artist David Wilkie painted portraits and genre scenes. This portrait depicts Maria Arabella, Marchioness of Lansdowne, and her servant. Wilkie painted it at Lansdowne Castle in Southampton- a neo-Gothic folly built by Maria’s second husband the 2nd Marquis of Lansdowne. The ornate velvet and lace costumes, silver tea service, and manservant, are deliberate displays of the Lansdownes’ wealth and ideas about taste. Within aristocratic circles, they were renowned for their contrived eccentricity.
Label TextThe Scottish artist David Wilkie painted portraits and genre scenes. This portrait depicts Maria Arabella, Marchioness of Lansdowne, and her servant. Wilkie painted it at Lansdowne Castle in Southampton- a neo-Gothic folly built by Maria’s second husband the 2nd Marquis of Lansdowne. The ornate velvet and lace costumes, silver tea service, and manservant, are deliberate displays of the Lansdownes’ wealth and ideas about taste. Within aristocratic circles, they were renowned for their contrived eccentricity.
