Portrait of Lady Grace Anna Newenham
1784
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
About the artist
Artist
Horace Hone
Horace Hone (1754–1825) was a British artist, born in London.
See the richer artist page1784
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Portrait of Lady Grace Anna Newenham is a 1784 unspecified by Horace Hone, a Rococo painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A woman in a dark dress sits against a plain background, her face softly lit. A small lace cap sits on her gray hair, and her hands rest gently in her lap. This is a miniature portrait—small enough to hold in your palm. Horace Hone painted many like it for wealthy families in 18th-century England. The tiny size meant the artist had to work with fine brushes and steady hands. Lady Grace Anna Newenham was nearly 60 when this was made, but the painting keeps her as she was at that moment. If you like these delicate portraits, look up *sfumato*—the technique Hone used to blend her skin so smoothly.
Lady Grace Anna Newenham (née Burton, 1725–1807) was the wife of Sir Edward Newenham (1734–1814), a prominent radical Protestant Irish politician and MP for Dublin, whom she married in 1754 at St. Thomas in Dublin. Lady Newenham herself came from a highly influential family with deep Whig political roots in Dublin. This miniature was painted in 1784, when she was nearly 60 years old and had been married for 30 years. This period found her husband, Edward, deeply in debt, going to great lengths to secure employment for his children, and planning a trip to America. While the former conditions…
Human hair was frequently incorporated into miniatures and was especially appropriate for mourning miniatures because it transformed the object into a kind of reliquary.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Horace Hone (1754–1825) was a British artist, born in London.
See the richer artist page
