Artwork
Frances Susanna, Lady de Dunstanville
Frances Susanna, Lady de Dunstanville is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist Thomas Gainsborough. It dates from 1786 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Executed in 1786, this oil on canvas portrait depicts Frances Susanna Hippisley Coxe, the wife of Francis Basset.
Executed in 1786, this oil on canvas portrait depicts Frances Susanna Hippisley Coxe, the wife of Francis Basset. The work functions as a formal representation of the sitter during the period when her husband held the title of 1st Baron Basset of Stratton, prior to his later elevation to Baron de Dunstanville. Commissioned directly by Francis Basset, the painting likely served to document the couple's status and lineage within the context of their family estate, Tehidy, in Cornwall.
As a portrait, the image focuses on the likeness and social standing of the sitter, preserving her visual identity for descendants who retained the work within the family collection until the early twentieth century.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1786, this portrait is an oil painting on canvas measuring 127 by 101.6 centimeters. As a work by Thomas Gainsborough, it adheres to the conventions of late eighteenth-century British portraiture, with oil paint applied to a woven canvas support in the manner standard for formal commissions of this era. The dimensions suggest a substantial figure consistent with the status of the sitter, Frances Susanna, Lady de Dunstanville. Specific details regarding the artist's brushwork, surface condition, or underpainting are not detailed in the available records.
History & Provenance
Thomas Gainsborough painted Frances Susanna, Lady de Dunstanville in 1786 as an oil on canvas commissioned by her husband, Francis Basset, later 1st Baron de Dunstanville. The work remained in the Basset family at their Cornwall estate, Tehidy, passing to Arthur Francis Basset before its 1907 sale to Asher Wertheimer in London and exhibition with Thos. Agnew & Sons in 1908.
Sir George Donaldson of London then owned it until selling it to William Andrews Clark of New York by 1916. Clark bequeathed it to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1926, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, acquired it in 2014. The sitter is Frances Susanna Hippisley Coxe. No specific exhibition history beyond this chain of ownership is documented in the available sources.
Context
The 1786 portrait of Frances Susanna Hippisley Coxe, wife of Francis Basset, exemplifies Thomas Gainsborough's mature portraiture, blending refined characterization with a delicate handling of light. Its descent through the Basset family of Tehidy and its eventual acquisition by the National Gallery of Art reflect its place within Gainsborough's documented oeuvre and its recognized importance in the study of late-Georgian British portraiture.
Overview
This oil on canvas, Frances Susanna, Lady de Dunstanville, was created by the English artist Thomas Gainsborough around 1786. As a prominent portraitist and landscape painter of his era, Gainsborough captured the likeness of Frances Susanna Hippisley Coxe, later Lady de Dunstanville. The work exemplifies the Rococo aesthetic prevalent in 18th-century British art, characterized by its emphasis on grace and intricate details.
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Artist
Thomas Gainsborough (; 14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English painter, draughtsman and printmaker who specialised in portrait and landscape painting.
