A331: Lady Emily Kerr as a Bacchante
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© The Holburne Museum of Art, Bath
| Museum number | A331 |
| Title | Lady Emily Kerr as a Bacchante |
| Object type | In category: Pictures » Painting |
| Date | Circa 1770 |
| People |
Hoare, William (British painter, ca.1707-1792) - Painter(s) Kerr, Lady Wilhelmina Emilia (b.1759) - Sitter(s) |
| Place of origin | Europe » Northern Europe » British Isles » Great Britain » England » Bath |
| Condition |
Good |
| Dimensions |
204.0 cm height frame 173.0 cm width frame 176.5 cm height sight 146.0 cm width sight |
| Materials & techniques |
In categories: Pictures: Medium » Paint » Oil paint Pictures: Support » Canvas |
| Description | Full-length portrait of a young girl in an Arcadian landscape. Hair simply dressed in antique style, parted in centre. White flowing dress in antique style with u-shaped neck in contemporary style. Floating pink sash draped over shoulder. Sandals tied to feet with blue ribbons. In her right hand she carries a pole bound with flowers and ribbons and topped with a pinecone; in her left hand, a tambourine. In the background, three girls in coloured antique robes dance in a ring round a draped statue. In an elaborately carved and gilded wooden frame. | ||||||
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Subject |
Allegory Figure Landscape Mythology Portrait |
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| Notes | The Sitter Lady Wilhelmina Emilia (Emily) Kerr (born 1759), daughter of the 4th Marquess of Lothian. At seventeen (1783) she married Captain (later Lt-Gen Sir) John McLeod (1752-1833). They had four sons and five daughters. A portrait of Emily c.1780 by George Romney is in the Tate, NO3724. Subject The Bacchantes were female devotees of Bacchus (Dionysus), the Graeco-Roman god of wine. In Greek culture they were known for the wildness of their cult ceremonies, but by the eighteenth century, images of dancing Bacchantes are generally used for more decorative purposes. Lady Emily is holding the Bacchic attributes of a thyrsus (the pine-cone topped stick carried by Bacchus and his followers) and tambourine, probably because of her graceful dancing, for which she was much praised when she visited Bath as a young girl. Here she also received singing lessons from William Herschel. The composition of this portrait was perhaps influenced by the portrait of Mrs Hale as Euphrosyne by Sir Joshua Reynolds at Harewood House, Leeds, which had been exhibited at the Society of Artists' Exhibition in 1766. |
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| Literature |
Mary Holbrook 'Painters in Bath in the Eighteenth Century', Apollo, vol. 98, Nov. 1973, p.52, fig. 6 Stevenson, Sara and Bennett, Helen, Van Dyck in Check Trousers: Fancy Dress in Art and Life 1700-1900, Edinburgh, 1978, p.34 Evelyn Newby William Hoare of Bath R.A. 1707-1792, exhibition catalogue, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, 1990, pp. 38-39 |
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| Muse theme | Art and Culture in Georgian Bath 1714-1830 |
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| Muse chapter |
Art and Culture in Georgian Bath 1714-1830 » Art » Hoare and his Contemporaries
Art and Culture in Georgian Bath 1714-1830 Art and Culture in Georgian Bath 1714-1830 » Leisure » Assemblies, Dancing and Gambling |
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| Gallery Labels |
William Hoare 1707–1792 Lady Emily Kerr as a Bacchante Oil on canvas This depiction of Lady Emily must have been intended as a compliment to one who had been particularly praised for her graceful dancing. Although the representation of a chaste young girl as a bacchante (one who indulges in drunken revels) might seem a little inappropriate, her demure costume and the classically correct details cast a respectable gloss over the scene. William Hoare was the leading portrait painter in Bath before the arrival of Thomas Gainsborough in 1759. A member of the learned and philosophical circle around Ralph Allen at Prior Park, he was described by the Reverend Graves as: "not only one of the most virtuous, friendly and philanthropical men but one of the best classical scholars, both in Greek and Latin, with whom I was ever acquainted". This painting has been conserved under the Adopt a Treasure scheme, through its adoption by the Wessex National Decorative and Fine Art Society. A331 (Unknown) William Hoare (1707–1792) Lady Emily Kerr as a Bacchante Oil on canvas, c. 1770 Presented by Major R.O. and Miss V. Bridgman, 1936 In the ancient Greek world, Bacchantes were women who worshipped the god of wine by dancing in drunken revels. This depiction of the young Lady Emily might have been intended as a compliment to her graceful dancing. Hoare stood out from his Bath contemporaries because of his classical education. He had studied ancient Roman art at first hand in Italy. Conserved under the Adopt a Treasure scheme, through the Wessex NADFAS. A331 (Unknown) 2005 |
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| Method of acquisition | Gift | ||||||
| Provenance | By family descent, Lady Emily Kerr (b.1759); thereby descent to Major R.O Bridgeman and Miss Victoria Bridgeman by whom presented to the Museum in 1936. | ||||||
| Exhibition history |
Title of exhibition: Science and Music in 18th C Bath Title of exhibition: Van Dyck in Check Trousers Title of exhibition: William Hoare of Bath R.A. 1707-1792 Title of exhibition: The Beauties of Bath: The Holburne Museum revealed |
