3-016-338 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Frances, Countess of Dartmouth, 1756. The Countess of Dartmouth wears formal court dress with a low-necked, fur-trimmed, white satin dress decorated with a wealth of diamond jewellery in the form of stomachers and long and short necklaces. In her right hand she holds her coronet of rank. Reynolds uses a plain, dark background in which we can make out the back and arm of a large chair on the left and part of an architectural element on the right. The Countess’ delicate, very pale skin is comparable in tone to the trimming of her dress and her lace sleeves, which are almost the same colour. Her body and face, with its bright patches of rouge on the cheeks, are presented frontally and the Countess looks directly at the viewer with a slightly absent gaze.