Portrait of Lady Diana Beauclerk (1734 -1808) attributed to George Perfect Harding c 1841, after John Powell and Sir Joshua Reynolds

Lady Diana Spencer was born in 1734, the daughter of the 3rd Duke of Marlborough. She was a talented artist from a young age and continued to paint and draw after her marriage to the unstable and ill-tempered Frederick St.John, Viscount Bolingbroke or 'Bully' as he was known to his friends.

Sir Joshua Reynolds painted her portrait between 1763 and 1765, which hangs at Kenwood House. It depicts Lady Diana as a classical artist, with a pencil in her right hand and an album of drawings in her left.

Lady Diana's marriage to Frederick was notoriously abusive and ended in divorce in 1768 through a highly publicised Act of Parliament. Two days later she married her lover Topham Beauclerk (1739-1780), the great grandson of Charles II and Nell Gwyn. Through Beauclerk she befriended Horace Walpole (1739-1797) and after Beauclerk's death in 1780 she moved to Little Marble Hill on the River Thames, close to Horace Walpole's Gothic villa at Strawberry Hill. There she dedicated herself to becoming a full time artist.

Walpole commissioned illustrations of his play A Mysterious Mother which were housed in a specially designed hexagonal room at Strawberry Hill, named the Beauclerk Closet. He also commissioned a copy of the Reynolds portrait from the artist's studio assistant John Powell (active 1769-1785).

By the beginning of the 19th century Strawberry Hill had come into the hands of the Waldegrave family. During their ownership George Perfect Harding (1779/80-1853) recorded Strawberry Hill and the famous collection the house contained in a series of prints, drawings and watercolours. The collection includes a watercolour copy by Harding of Lady Diana's portrait.

This elegant and newly identified portrait of Lady Diana, which is likely to date from 1841 or slightly later, emerged from a private collection in 2021. The Friends of Lydiard Park purchased the portrait the following year, commissioned the necessary conservation treatment and presented the painting for display at Lydiard House.

This commentary is derived from a more detailed explanation written by Anthony Mould, Fine Art Dealer of Bruton Street, London. See Items of Interest.