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Title:Lady Maitland (Catherine Connor, died 1865)
Artist:Sir Henry Raeburn (British, Stockbridge, Scotland 1756–1823 Edinburgh, Scotland)
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:49 3/4 x 39 3/4 in. (126.4 x 101 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Jessie Woolworth Donahue, 1953
Object Number:53.180
The sitter was born Catherine Connor, second daughter of Daniel Connor of Ballybricken, County Cork, and Orme Square, London. She married Frederick Lewis Maitland, grandson of the sixth Earl of Lauderdale, in April 1804. The couple’s only child died in infancy. Maitland held various naval commands with distinction. He was captain of HMS Bellerophon during the surrender of Napoleon on board the ship, July 15, 1815; from 1832 to 1837 he was admiral superintendent of the Portsmouth dockyard; in 1837 he was appointed commander in chief in the East Indies and China; and he died at sea off Bombay in 1839. In 1816 the admiral bought from his mother the estate of Lindores, Fife, which had been in her family for centuries; he spent several years improving the property and building a manor house with prize money from the Napoleonic Wars. His wife died at Lindores in 1865.
Lady Maitland is said to have sat for this portrait about 1817. It was engraved in mezzotint by Norman Hirst. The figure and the costume, with the exception of the shawl, are very well preserved, but the darks in the background are severely abraded.
[2010; adapted from Baetjer 2009]
the sitter's husband, Rear-Admiral Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland, Lindores House, Fife (until d. 1839); Lady Maitland, Lindores House (1839–d. 1865); Rear-Admiral William Heriot-Maitland-Dougall of Scotscraig, Fife (by 1876–d. 1890); Commander William Heriot-Maitland-Dougall of Scotscraig (from 1890); [Wallis, London, until 1905]; [Wallis, London, and Agnew, London, 1905; sold to Morgan]; J. Pierpont Morgan, London and New York (1905–d. 1913; his estate, 1913–17; cat., 1907); his daughter, Anne Morgan (from 1917; sold to Knoedler); [Knoedler, New York, until 1935; sold for $42,000 to Donahue]; Mrs. James P. (Jessie Woolworth) Donahue, New York (1935–53)
Edinburgh. Royal Academy, National Galleries. "Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A.," October–November 1876, no. 214 (as Lady Maitland, Wife of Admiral Sir Frederick Maitland, lent by Rear-Admiral W. H. Maitland-Dougall of Scotscraig).
London. Thos. Agnew & Sons. "Eleventh Annual Exhibition on Behalf of the Artists' General Benevolent Institution," November–December 1905, no. 15.
Berlin. Königliche Akademie der Künste. "Aelterer Englischer Kunst," January 26–February 23, 1908, no. 78 (lent by J. Pierpont Morgan).
Copenhagen. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. "Ældre Engelsk Kunst," 1908, no. 21 (lent by J. Pierpont Morgan).
London. French Gallery. "Pictures by Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A.," 1911, no. 25 (lent by J. Pierpont Morgan).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Collection of Paintings lent by J. Pierpont Morgan," 1913, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Loan Exhibition of the J. Pierpont Morgan Collection," February 17, 1914–May 28, 1916, unnumbered cat. (p. 106).
William Raeburn Andrew. Life of Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A. 2nd ed. London, 1894, p. 139, no. 215, as painted about 1817.
Walter Armstrong. Sir Henry Raeburn. London, 1901, p. 108.
Edward Pinnington. Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A. London, 1904, p. 239.
W[illiam]. Roberts inPictures in the Collection of J. Pierpont Morgan at Princes Gate & Dover House, London. Vol. 1, English School. London, 1907, unpaginated, ill.
James Greig. Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A.: His Life and Works. London, 1911, p. 53.
C. Reginald Grundy. "A Raeburn Exhibition." Connoisseur 29 (February 1911), p. 109.
"Raeburn's Portrait of Lady Maitland." Connoisseur 31 (December 1911), pp. 258–60, ill.
Freeman O'Donoghue. Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum. Vol. 3, London, 1912, p. 142, as engraved by N. Hirst.
B[ryson]. B[urroughs]. "A Loan Exhibition of Mr. Morgan's Paintings." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 8 (January 1913), p. 13 [reprinted as pamphlet, "Collection of Paintings Lent by J. Pierpont Morgan," at least 7 eds., p. 12].
Guide to the Loan Exhibition of the J. Pierpont Morgan Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1914, p. 106.
"Morgan Raeburn Has Been Sold." Art News 33 (March 2, 1935), p. 4, reports that the painting had been sold to a private collector through Knoedler "some time ago".
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 197, ill., as "Lady Maitland (Catherine Connor, died 1865)".
Katharine Baetjer. British Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1575–1875. New York, 2009, pp. 176–77, no. 87, ill. (color).
Sir Henry Raeburn (British, Stockbridge, Scotland 1756–1823 Edinburgh, Scotland)
ca. 1808–9
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