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#228: By Aimee Ng, Curator Transcript

Julia Floyd was born, in 1795, in Madras (today Chennai), in India under British rule. Her family moved to Britain when she was a child. In 1820, she married Sir Robert Peel, a politician who would serve twice as Prime Minister and who was an avid collector of paintings. Peel commissioned a number of portraits from Sir Thomas Lawrence, the leading portraitist of the British school at the time. For this portrait, the artist appears to have been inspired by one of the paintings in Peel’s collection: Peter Paul Rubens’s portrait of Susanna Lunden, also known as “Le Chapeau de Paille.” It’s also dominated by an extravagant hat, vibrant red colors, and the piercing beauty of the subject. Like much of Peel’s collection, the Rubens portrait was left to the National Gallery in London.

Here, Lady Peel’s controlled expression is somewhat at odds with the flamboyance of her clothing and accessories: her black hat with cascading red feathers, the white fur or swan’s down and satin of her mantle and dress, her stacks of rings and bracelets, the burst of red of the camellia tucked in at her chest. She appears to be in “fancy dress” rather than in the fashion of the day. Exhibited at the Royal Academy, in 1827, this painting was judged by one critic as being among “the highest achievements of modern art.”

Julia, Lady Peel

 (British, 1769–1830)
Date1827
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions35 3/4 x 27 7/8 in. (90.8 x 70.8 cm)
Credit LineHenry Clay Frick Bequest
Accession number1904.1.83
Commentary

Julia Floyd (1795–1859) was married in 1820 to the British statesman Sir Robert Peel, who twice served as Prime Minister and was an avid patron of Lawrence. The Frick portrait apparently was inspired by Rubens’ painting of Susanna Fourment known as the Chapeau de paille, which Peel had acquired in 1823. When Lawrence’s Lady Peel was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1827, a critic claimed it to be among “the highest achievements of modern art.” Lawrence’s flamboyant and virtuoso style has come to epitomize the spirit of the Regency period.

Source: Art in The Frick Collection: Paintings, Sculpture, Decorative Arts, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996.

Collection History

Peel family. Sold in Paris about 1896. Sigismond Bardac, Paris. Knoedler. Frick, 1904.

Source: Paintings in The Frick Collection: American, British, Dutch, Flemish and German. Volume I. New York: The Frick Collection, 1968.

Not On View
Oil painting of girl wearing white dress
Thomas Lawrence
after 1827
Oil painting of woman in blue dress holding flower
Thomas Gainsborough
ca. 1757
Oil painting of woman wearing white dress
Thomas Gainsborough
ca. 1782
Oil painting of people standing in a park
Thomas Gainsborough
ca. 1783
Oil painting of man wearing green coat and holding book
Thomas Gainsborough
ca. 1774
Oil painting of woman with dark hair wearing a yellow dress
Thomas Gainsborough
ca. 1786
Oil painting of woman wearing yellow dress standing outside
Thomas Gainsborough
1781
Oil painting of woman wearing blue dress and standing in landscape
Thomas Gainsborough
ca. 1777
Oil paint sketch of a landscape with cattle crossing a bridge.
Thomas Gainsborough
ca. 1785
Front view of watch with enamel dial in a gilt bronze case
Thomas Mudge
1757
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