Sir Joshua Reynolds

Lady Anstruther

1761

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Not on display

Artist: Sir Joshua Reynolds 1723–1792
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 1264 x 991 mm
frame: 1412 x 1155 x 90 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Bequeathed by Viscountess D'Abernon 1954
Reference: N06243

Display caption

Sir John Anstruther commissioned this portrait of his wife, Janet, along with his own portrait (now in a French private collection). Lady Anstruther, the daughter of a Scottish merchant, was renowned for her beauty and for her reputation as a flirt. Despite her social elevation through marriage to a baronet, on at least one occasion Lady Anstruther was taunted in the streets for her supposed gypsy descent. In Reynolds's portrait, she glides serenely through the grounds of a landed estate, her dress and deportment asserting her right to be recognized among the ranks of the aristocracy.

Gallery label, August 2004

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