The sitter in this portrait
is believed to be Harriet Churchill, the wife
of Sir Everard Fawkener, English ambassador to
Constantinople (now Istanbul) from 1737 to 1746. Fawkener
and the Swiss pastel painter Liotard had become
acquainted in the Turkish capital, where the
artist produced pastel portraits of members of
the British colony. Liotard was based in
Constantinople from 1738 to 1742, where he developed
the habit of wearing full Turkish dress and grew
a long beard, this eccentric appearance greatly
contributed to his celebrity when he later returned
to Europe and he became known as ‘the Turkish
painter’.
In the mid-1750s Sir Everard Fawkener and Liotard
met again in London, where this portrait was
probably painted. Lady Fawkener is described
in contemporary accounts as a “very intriguing” and “prettyish” woman
who danced well but this opinion was expressed
up to fifteen years before the portrait was painted.
Here she is shown holding a thread and picking
something from a sewing box, perhaps a reference
to her husband’s former profession as a merchant
of cloth and silk. Lady Fawkener’s black
and white costume is not necessarily intended to
appear as mourning dress but as her husband died
in 1758, it is possible that this portrait was
produced once she was widowed. She is set against
an unadorned background and portrayed with a very
direct outlook towards the viewer, two characteristics
of Liotard’s innovative style of portraiture; his
success owed much to the care he took to achieve
a close likeness of his subjects. The artist
was a fine pastel painter, a soft chalk-based medium
which allows a variety of pictorial effects and
was thus suited both to the detailed depiction
of fabrics and the broader depiction of the flesh,
as can be seen in the sitter’s black lace
shawl and arms. |
