Attributed to Andrew Geddes A.R.A.

Portrait of a lady, traditionally identified as Elizabeth Fox, Baroness Holland (1771-1845), three-quarter-length, seated wearing a light brown dress

No reserve

No Reserves

Lot Closed

January 18, 03:55 PM GMT

Estimate

1,500 - 2,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Property of the descendants of William & Robert Adam

Attributed to Andrew Geddes A.R.A.

Edinburgh 1783 - 1844 London

Portrait of a lady, traditionally identified as Elizabeth Fox, Baroness Holland (1771-1845),

three-quarter-length, seated wearing a light brown dress

oil on canvas

unframed: 58.4 x 48.1 cm.; 23 x 19 in.

framed: 80.2 x 70.1 cm.; 31½ x 27⅝ in.

Possibly commissioned Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Baroness Holland (1771–1845);

Her son General Charles Richard Fox (1796–1873);

Thence by descent.

Elizabeth Fox, née Vassall, was a notorious figure in 19th-century London. Heiress to a vast fortune from her Jamaica planter father, Richard Vassall (1732-95), she first married in 1786, at the age of fifteen, Sir Godfrey Webster, 4th Bt., with whom she had five children. In 1794 she met Whig politician Henry Fox, 3rd Baron Holland, in Naples, and they began an affair. Webster divorced Fox in 1797 on the grounds of adultery, and Elizabeth married Holland two days later, retaining her West Indian fortune of £7,000 per annum; they had seven children.

Lord and Lady Holland lived at Holland House, which became a centre of elite Whig society, with Lady Holland renowned as much for her domineering character, as for being a political and literary society hostess; amongst her circle were the Duchess of Devonshire, Thomas Pelham, George Tierney, Walter Scott, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Lady Holland is also remembered for permanently introducing the dahlia to the United Kingdom.