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Description: | Signed: yes Description: It is probable, given the date that Mercier painted this portrait, that the sitter is Lady Mary Fairfax, the second wife of the 9th Viscount and the mother of Anne. This delicate portrait, which contrasts the sheen of the sitter's dress and her pale skin against a dark background, offers more than a simple likeness of an aristocratic and attractive woman. If the sitter is indeed Lady Mary, the viewer is clearly meant to note her elegant, relaxed pose, and the luxurious stuff of her dress and mantle. Both connote wealth and class, and imply that the sitter's portrait was meant to act as a reminder of the status of her family, and possibly even the attributes of her descendants. We can imagine that if this portrait hung near that of Anne Fairfax, the beauty of the Fairfax women and the likelihood that Anne would have her own attractive children would have been remarked upon. The viewer may also have been invited to note the pathos of this portrait. Lady Mary died in July 1741, and it is possible that the portrait is a posthumous one. | Subjects: | Mary) portrait (Fairfax | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Mercier, Philippe (French painter, 1689-1760, active in England) Æ | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8723... | Go to resource |
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