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A. de Brie , French, fl.20th century

After Mallary

Title

Portrait of Lady Pamela Fitzgerald

Date1903

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions

126 x 99 cm

Credit LinePresented, Mr G. Wyndham, 1904

Object numberNGI.568

DescriptionLady Fitzgerald was the celebrated wife of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, aristocrat and United Irishman. Born Stephanie Caroline Anne Syms, but known as Pamela, she was the ward of Madame de Genlis. According to family folklore, she was the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Orléans. However, it is now believed that she was the illegitimate daughter of an American officer, born to an unknown woman in Fogo Island, off the coast of Newfoundland. On 27 December 1792, when just nineteen, she married Lord Edward in France. The couple returned to Ireland the following year. Pamela shared her husband's radical views and became involved in the political subterfuge of his friends. After the death of Lord Edward from wounds received while resisting arrest before the rebellion of 1798, Pamela married Joseph Pitcairn, United States Consul at Hamburg. In Mallary's portrait, Lady Pamela appears in typical neo-classical dress with her daughter Pamela. The artist is believed to have been a French émigré who painted Lady Pamela in Hamburg.