Pensive

This well-observed portrait shows the artist’s friend, Lady Fanny Calder, seated at a table deep in thought. The portrait dates to around 1851.

Louisa Alice Frances Calder (1835-1874) was the daughter of the 5th Baronet of Muirtown. She married Charles Fox Webster in 1856. The 1861 Census finds her living with her husband in true ‘Downton Abbey’ style with three young daughters and ten household servants.

The talented artist was Lady Augusta Minna Lyons Howard (1821-1886), daughter of Sir Edmund Lyons, British minister to Greece. It was in Greece that Lady Augusta met her future husband, Henry Granville Fitzalan-Howard (later the 14th Duke of Norfolk). Whilst a guest, Lord Fitzalan fell ill and was taken care of by Lady Augusta with whom he then fell in love. The pair married in 1839 and together had eleven children.

Drawn on grey card in pencil heightened with watercolour and having been rescued from a distressed album of Lady Augusta’s work, this attractive portrait is presented in a period dark wood frame with a gilt slip.