Maria, Lady Eardley

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Maria, Lady Eardley
Artist	Thomas Gainsborough
Year	c. 1770
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	215 cm × 149 cm (85 in × 59 in)
Location	Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Maria, Lady Eardley is an oil on canvas painting by the English artist Thomas Gainsborough from c. 1770. It has been in the collections of Nationalmuseum in Stockholm since 1966.^[1]

The portrait depicts Maria Wilmot (1743–1794), the daughter of judge Sir John Eardley Wilmot and his wife Sarah Rivett. In 1768 she married Sir Sampson Gideon, a banker who in 1789 was knighted the Baron Eardley.

Maria, Lady Eardly, is just over 25 years of age in the painting. She is facing us wearing an elegant white silk gown, a blue shawl over her arm. She holds a flower in her hand and pearls glisten in her hair. Gainsborough was a master at rendering aristocratic extravagance in a natural setting.

Gainsborough was one of England's leading 18th century portrait- and landscape painters. He was a contemporary of Joshua Reynolds and they both specialised in portraits of the British aristocracy. This work is highly representative of his depictions of the British élite – they emerge in full figure from wooded landscapes. Grandeur was key, in content and form, and the portraits were usually full-length. He was also an accomplished landscape painter, and here the young woman is framed by the backdrop of a romantically leafy landscape garden. Also Reynolds painted Lady Eardley.

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