Lady Diana Beauclerk (English, 1734-1808), Pair of Portraits of Two Young Boys

Each a pastel on paper laid on canvas, unsigned, presented in uniform giltwood frames below glass, retaining gallery paperwork and an exhibition catalog.

Sight sizes 17 3/8 x 13 5/8 in.; Frame dimensions 19 x 15 3/4 in.

Sotheby & Co., London, November 17th, 1970, Lot 63.
Winifred Williams, London.

Lady Diana Beauclerk was an English noblewoman and celebrated artist. She was born into the aristocratic Spencer family, where she was introduced to art at an early age. In London society, she developed a scandalous reputation after leaving her unfaithful husband and maintaining an affair while her husband petitioned to divorce her on grounds of adultery. She remarried within two days of her divorce proceedings.

Despite the tarnishing this had on her reputation, Lady Diana supported herself using her artistic talent and maintaining relationships with an upper-class circle of friends that included Sir Joshua Reynolds, Samuel Johnson, Georgiana Cavendish, Edward Gibbon, and Edmund Burke. She painted portraits, illustrated numerous plays and books, provided designs for Wedgwood's pottery, and decorated rooms with murals. She cemented a successful autonomous career for herself that was scarce and unconventional among women of her time.

Good condition, with some barely visible spotting to the sheets, not examined outside the frames; the frames with minor abrasions and retouching.