Innumerable pearls line the blue satin dress of the Honorable Frances Duncombe, who wears a bright red jewel on her chest, possibly a ruby or garnet. These may be precious gems or artificial baubles, possibly even invented by the painter. Gainsborough included an identical red jewel in a similar portrait of Mrs. Graham, now in the National Gallery of Scotland. The dress in that portrait, like this one, recalls the fashions immortalized in Anthony van Dyck’s portraits of British sitters of the seventeenth century. Frances was the only daughter of the Honorable Anthony Duncombe, who died when she was a child, as did her mother. She was raised by her stepmother in the house of the Earl of Radnor and was betrothed to the earl’s eldest son; however, her engagement was broken off when the family discovered her affair with a John Bowater, whom she married in 1778. The couple had no children and appear to have been estranged by the end of the century, when John was jailed for failing to pay his debts. Despite her husband’s misfortunes, Frances remained very wealthy. Exactly when and why this monumental portrait was commissioned from Gainsborough is unknown. After spending some years living in Germany (rumored to have had an affair with Archduke Maximilian Franz, brother of the French queen, Marie Antoinette), Frances returned to England and lived with this portrait in her family home, Old Dalby Hall, in Leicestershire, until her death, in 1827.
The lush background with a classical structure may have been invented by the artist. It’s safe to say that she was not actually standing on dusty earth when Gainsborough painted this: her white satin shoe—peeking out from her dress and rendered in Gainsborough’s quick strokes—is spotless.
The Hon. Frances Duncombe
Frances Duncombe was born in 1757, the only daughter of Anthony Duncombe and Frances Bathurst. Gainsborough’s portrait of her reveals the artist’s admiration for Van Dyck, not only in its elegant proportions, graceful pose, and Arcadian setting, but even in the costume, which recalls fashions of the seventeenth century. It was probably painted while the subject was living with the family of the Earl of Radnor, into which her stepmother married; the Earl commissioned from Gainsborough a number of portraits in the grand style to complement his collection of Old Masters. In 1778 Frances married John Bowater of Woolwich, who suffered various reverses and went to debtors’ prison despite the considerable fortune she brought him. Frances died seventeen years after her husband in 1827.
Source: Art in The Frick Collection: Paintings, Sculpture, Decorative Arts, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996.
Mrs. John Bowater, Old Dalby Hall. Rev. W.G. Sawyer, Old Dalby Hall. Sold in 1871, for about £6. Bought by Henry Graves, London, either for £150 or for £300. Sold by him for £1,050 to the Earl of Chesterfield, who died before the transaction was completed; returned to Graves. Sold by Graves to Lionel de Rothschild, London, 1872, for £3,150. C.J. Wertheimer, London. The picture hung for a time in J. Pierpont Morgan’s house, Princes Gate, London, but was never in his possession. Duveen. Frick, 1911.
Source: Paintings in The Frick Collection: American, British, Dutch, Flemish and German. Volume I. New York: The Frick Collection, 1968.
