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Description: | Mrs Priestley was the daughter of Isaac Wilkinson of Barham, near Wrexham and married Dr Joseph Priestley, the scientist and Nonconformist minister in 1762. Dr and Mrs Priestley settled in Birmingham in 1780 but left after the sacking of their house by an anti-Jacobite mob in 1791. In 1794, they emigrated to the USA and Mrs Priestley died in Northumberland Town, New Hampshire on 17 September 1796, aged 52. Extracts from Corry's Life of Joseph Priestley (1804) suggest that she was a woman of considerable character, an excellent manager, sometimes sharp with her servants, but none the less kind and generous. Breda painted her aged about 49, a year before emigrating to America in 1794. Breda was born in Stockholm and studied under Reynolds. He lived in Birmingham in 1792 and also painted portraits of James Watt and Matthew Boulton. In a letter dated 27 March 1793 to Matthew Boulton, Breda wrote: 'Mrs Galton applied to me for Mrs Priestley's Portrait. This portrait is now nearly finished and shall be sent to Birmingham as soon as it is perfectly dry.' | Subjects: | portrait (Mrs Joseph Priestley) | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Breda, Carl Fredrik von (Swedish artist, 1759-1818) Æ | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=9176... | Go to resource |
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