FRANCIS COTES, R.A., AND STUDIO | PORTRAIT OF ELIZABETH HAMILTON CAMPBELL, DUCHESS OF ARGYLL AND 1ST BARONESS HAMILTON OF HAMELDON (1733-1790), THREE-QUARTER-LENGTH, IN A GREEN DRESS WITH A PINK CLOAK, WITH SUNFLOWERS TO THE RIGHT AND A STONE URN TO THE LEFT

By descent to the daughter of the sitter, Lady Charlotte Campbell, 1790;

By descent to her daughter Adelaide, Lady Lennox (1804-1888);

By descent to her daughter Constance, Lady Russell (1872-1942);

By inheritance to her daughter-in-law Marjorie, Lady Russell, Berkshire, by 1925; 

Christie's, London, 23 June 1972, lot 85, for 240 Guineas to Leslie (as Studio of Cotes);

Bonhams, London, 9 July 1981, lot 112 (as Cotes);

Christie's, Edinburgh, 14 November 1985, lot 515 (as Cotes and Assistant)

A version of the signed and dated, full-length portrait from 1767, which is in the collection of the Duke of Argyll, Inveraray Castle, Argyllshire (oil on canvas, 243.8 by 144.7cm.).¹ One of the most famous beauties of the day, Elizabeth Hamilton Campbell is unique in Scottish history as being the mother of four Dukes - the Seventh and Eight Dukes of Hamilton and the Sixth and Seventh Dukes of Argyll. The daughter of John Gunning of Castle Coote, County Roscommon, she married firstly, in 1752, James, 6th Duke of Hamilton and secondly, in 1758, John Campbell, 5th Dyke of Argyll. A lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte, she was a celebrated society hostess.

¹ E.M. Johnson, Francis Cotes: with a critical essay and a catalogue, Oxford 1976, p. 86, cat. no. 219, reproduced fig. 83.