Portrait of Caroline Spencer, Fourth Duchess of Marlborough

ca. 1776

A portrait of Caroline Spencer, Duchess of Marlborough, wearing red processional robes with white fur trim in front of balustrade with pastoral background. A gilt frame with acanthus leaf border.

Published references:

Mark Hallett, Reynolds: Portraiture in Action, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2014, 330-331. (as "untraced")
David Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2000, no. 1658, 422, fig. 1193 (as "untraced")
E.K. Waterhouse, Reynolds, London, 1941, 67, pl. 178
Sir W. Armstrong, Sir Joshua Reynolds, London, 1900, 219
A. Graves and W.V. Cronin, A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A., London, 1899, vol. II, 626

Engraved by James Scott, 1863

English

oil on canvas, wood, gilt

Overall: 70 1/2 x 6 x 106 in. (179.1 x 15.2 x 269.2 cm)
Sight: 57 1/2 x 93 in. (146.1 x 236.2 cm)

Until 1796, kept in Reynolds' own gallery; inherited by his niece Mary Palmer (Marchioness of Thomond) and offered for sale at Greenwood's 16 April 1796, lot 49, bought in by Lord Inchiquin; Thomond sale, Christie's 19 May 1821, lot 75, bought by Woodburn for 1st Lord Churchill (d. 1845, youngest son of the sitter; Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire); Lord Iveagh from whom bought privately 17 September 1897 by Agnew's and immediately sold to George J. Gould, New York; Edith K. Gould, her sale New York 10 January 1929, lot 38; Howard Young Galleries New York (lent to exhibition in San Francisco, 1933); until 1938 Daniel Dodge, Detroit, Michigan; then to his mother, Matilda Dodge Wilson (d. 1967; widow of John Dodge, auto pioneer; the painting hung in the ballroom at Meadow Brook Hall, Rochester, MI), her sale Park-Bernet, New York, 22 October 1970, lot 90; purchased by Doris Duke for Rough Point.

1999.651