Collection Online as of February 6, 2023
Portrait of the Hon. Anne Annesley, later Countess of Mountnorris
Richard Cosway
(British, 1742–1821)
Watercolor on ivory in a gold frame
Framed: 9 x 7.3 cm (3 9/16 x 2 7/8 in.); Unframed: 8.3 x 6.4 cm (3 1/4 x 2 1/2 in.)
The Edward B. Greene Collection 1942.1138
Location
not on view
Description
Anne Annesley (née Courtenay, 1774–1835) was the eighth daughter of William 2nd Viscount Courtenay, and sister of William 3rd Viscount Courtenay, who commissioned numerous paintings of himself and his six sisters from Richard Cosway in oil and miniature. William’s expenditure for these works between 1790 and 1812 reached £1,370, a bill that wasn’t paid in full until 1820. Anne married George Annesley, later 2nd Earl of Mountnorris, in September 1790. Cosway, who frequently depicted female sitters in gauzy white gowns, lavished attention on Anne’s attire. Her pale yellow coat is lined with fur that is sensitively delineated with a combination of short brushstrokes distinct from those that form her dark, wavy hair. Fur-trimmed jackets like this one would probably have been worn indoors by women during the colder months.
Richard Cosway
Richard Cosway was Arguably the most fashionable miniature painter in London during the art form’s golden age in
late-eighteenth-century Britain. Also an accomplished painter in oils, Cosway was equally well known for his flamboyant character and the stunning art collection that secured his reputation as an arbiter of taste and model of connoisseurship. His elegant portraits in miniature were coveted by sitters who sought glamour even if it was at the expense of truthfulness. Cosway and his wife, Maria (neé Hadfield), maintained an elite circle of friends who helped define what
was au courant for the age and who consisted primarily of cultural luminaries and young members of high society revolving around George Augustus Frederick, the prince of Wales himself. His steady patronage from 1780 until 1808 fixed Cosway’s popularity within fashionable society. From 1785 Cosway’s miniatures were signed on the back: “Primarius Pictor Serenissimi Walliae Principis” (Principal Painter to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales), a pompous Latin designation that garnered the artist both fame and ridicule. Cosway was a successful artist-celebrity in his own time, and, in spite of being criticized periodically for being too superficially pretty, his miniatures have always been among the most desired by collectors. The Cleveland Museum of Art owns five miniatures by Cosway, painted between 1785 and 1805, that are representative of the artist’s stylistic range during the height of his career.
late-eighteenth-century Britain. Also an accomplished painter in oils, Cosway was equally well known for his flamboyant character and the stunning art collection that secured his reputation as an arbiter of taste and model of connoisseurship. His elegant portraits in miniature were coveted by sitters who sought glamour even if it was at the expense of truthfulness. Cosway and his wife, Maria (neé Hadfield), maintained an elite circle of friends who helped define what
was au courant for the age and who consisted primarily of cultural luminaries and young members of high society revolving around George Augustus Frederick, the prince of Wales himself. His steady patronage from 1780 until 1808 fixed Cosway’s popularity within fashionable society. From 1785 Cosway’s miniatures were signed on the back: “Primarius Pictor Serenissimi Walliae Principis” (Principal Painter to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales), a pompous Latin designation that garnered the artist both fame and ridicule. Cosway was a successful artist-celebrity in his own time, and, in spite of being criticized periodically for being too superficially pretty, his miniatures have always been among the most desired by collectors. The Cleveland Museum of Art owns five miniatures by Cosway, painted between 1785 and 1805, that are representative of the artist’s stylistic range during the height of his career.