|
Date: |
|
Description: | In this painting, Isabella Lee is pictured as a proud mother. She married Eldred Lancelot Lee at St Peter's Church, Wolverhampton in 1713. She was 23, and he was 62. He died before the painting was commissioned, but he was included in the scene as a framed oval portrait on the wall. Isabella Lee is holding a squirrel, which is the family crest. She is surrounded by her 10 children. The eldest daughter, also Isabella, shows her status by wearing the family jewels. Thomas, a future Oxford student, is holding a zoological book illustrating parrots common in the East. Behind them are Sarah and Margaret. Dorothy presents her brother Lancelot, the heir to the estate. To the right of them is Mary. Harry leads two hunting dogs, traditional payment to the King. Leaning against her mother is Elizabeth, the youngest daughter. Matilda sits on the floor, at her mother's knees. Another daughter Catherine who died in infancy is shown as a cherub in the top right hand corner. The Lee's were an important local family who lived at Coton Hall near Bridgnorth and their ancestry can be traced back to 1066 and William the Conqueror. Isabella Gough married Eldred Lancelot Lee in St. Peter's Church in Woverhampton in 1713. She was 23 and he was 62. Joseph Highmore was born in London, the son of a coal merchant. He trained as a lawyer but soon gave this up to become a full time artist. In 1714 he became a pupil of the famous court portrait painter Godfrey Kneller. He was famous for being able to complete a face in one sitting and because of this became an extremely popular portrait painter and painted people such as the Royal Family. Joseph Highmore and the Lees remained connected, because he painted the members of the family several times. In the collection of Wolverhampton Art Gallery there are two more portraits: "Portrait of Elizabeth Lee" (1755) and "Portrait of Isabella Lee with her Grandson William Waller" (1759).
The painting may have been commissioned to mark the departure of Lancelot Lee to oversee family investments in the East Indies. The family's history demonstrates the connections between English landed wealth in the Midlands and the wider world. Landowners participated in the creation of Britain's 18th century mercantile and political empire in the East Indies and the picture provides a visual reference to this connection. A branch of the Lee family also contributed to the empires first colonial revolution. Lees moved to America in the 16th century and Thomas Lee became President of the Colony of Virginia in the mid 18th century. His son Richard was one of the signatories of the Declaration of the Independence. Among their descendants was General Robert Lee who commanded the Confederate forces in the American Civil War.
This portrait shows Isabella Lee, seated, surrounded by her ten children. This includes a painting in the background of her young deceased daughter being carried away by an angel. There is also a portrait of Isabella's dead husband Eldred on the wall. Isabella holds a squirrel, the heraldic crest of the family. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/ | Publisher: | Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service | Subjects: | Death Child mortality Boys Childhood Fine arts Oil painting Women Isabella Lee Aristocracy 18th Century Eldred Lee Girls Eighteenth century Bereavement Squirrel Flowers Men Mothers Oil Paintings Children Interiors Group portraits People and roles Paintings Family Wealth Dresses People Tragedy Art collections | Temporal: | 1736
Georgian (1714-1837) | Source: | Black Country History | Creator: | HIGHMORE; Joseph (1692 - 1780) | Identifier: | http://www.blackcountryhistory.org/colle... | Go to resource |
|
|