Angelica Magdalena Wharton, nee Pelissary (c.1664-1736), 1st Viscountess St John, full length in coronation robes

This magnificent portrait of Angelica in full Coronation robes is by John Vanderbank and dated c1720. A companion portrait of her husband, Henry 1st Viscount St.John, painted by the same artist hangs alongside it.

Like her late mother-in-law Johanna, Angelica was also on cordial terms with royalty, providing King George II with a yearly supply of peaches grown in the Battersea gardens and stewed in rum.

In 1736 Angelica’s family was yet again hit by scandal when her only surviving daughter Henrietta Knight had an inappropriate relationship with poet John Dalton. Henrietta was banished by her cuckold husband Robert Knight, separating her from her two young children.

Angelica rushed to her daughter’s side, advising her to plead for forgiveness, but Knight was not a forgiving man. With her constitution worn down by so many pregnancies, it was thought this final blow hastened Angelica’s end. She died at her Battersea home on August 5, 1736 and was buried in St. Mary’s, Battersea five days later.

Medium - oil on canvas

Measurements - H 231 x W 143 cm

Transferred from the de Morgan Foundation 2005

Makes a pair with portrait of Henry 1st Viscount St.John; both in grey frames