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Frontispiece from The Works of the Right Honourable Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

1805

Not on view

Lady Montagu traveled to Turkey in 1716, when her husband, Edward, was appointed English ambassador. Upon her return, she popularized the fashion of wearing exotic “Eastern” costumes in portraits and to masquerades. She posed for several portraits wearing her own Turkish garments, such as those seen in this portrait after a 1720 painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller. Her letters describing her experiences were published in 1763, the year after her death.

Frontispiece from The Works of the Right Honourable Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Print (after Kneller painting), 1720, British — Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: Frontispiece from The Works of the Right Honourable Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

Date: 1805

Culture: British

Medium: Print (after Kneller painting), 1720

Dimensions: 2 x 6.7 in (5.1 x 17 cm)

Credit Line: General Research Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations

Accession Number: SL.13.2013.12.1

The Met

The American Wing at The Met

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works by African American, Euro American, Native American, and Latin American artists, ranging from the colonial to early-modern period.