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Description: | Born at Pont-l'Evêque in Normandy, Scott-Pierre-Nicholas Legrand (1758-1829) first studied at the Rouen drawing academy before becoming a pupil of J-B Descamps, a pupil and later collaborator of Largillière. Between 1773-5 he won various prizes in drawing competitions at Rouen and in 1784 he exhibited for the first time at the Lille Salon showing twenty five works in a diverse range of genre. In 1795 he left France for Switzerland where he settled in Berne; he exhibited at the Paris Salon 1796-99 and in 1824 at the Kunstalle in Berne. Although he produced numerous history subjects, Legrand is remembered for his portraits, these can be divided into two groups, those in a fantastical vein, worked with broad brush strokes, styled after the works of past masters and those that follow strict principles of highly detailed realism in an attempt to capture the physical and psychological reality of the sitter. The Battle Abbey portrait is of the latter category. Charlotte Webster, née Adamson (1791-1867) was the wife of Sir Godfrey Vassall Webster, fifth Bt. (1789-1836), they were married by special licence at her father's house at 25 Hill Street, Berkeley Square on 22 August 1814. If their marriage, which brought no financial gain, began in love, it ended in recriminations. Abigail brought Sir Godfrey four children but as a result of his dissolute lifestyle of persistent gambling, which first led to the appointment of trustees and later to his flight from creditors in 1819, the couple were divorced in 1828. In this portrait Abigail is represented as relatively serene, suggesting it may have been made shortly before the final decline of her marriage. | Subjects: | portrait (Charlotte Webster) | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Legrand, Pierre Nicolas (French painter 1758-1829) Æ | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8735... | Go to resource |
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