Anon. Portrait of the Countess of Wilton

An original c.1830 watercolour painting Portrait of the Countess of Wilton.

A remarkably vivid three-quarter length portrait miniature depicting Mary Margaret Stanley Egerton, Countess of Wilton (1801–1858). Mary Stanley was daughter of the 12th Earl of Derby. In 1821 she married British nobleman and Tory politician Thomas Egerton, 2nd Earl of Wilton, who was an accomplished horseman, yachtsman and composer. Thomas was second son of Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster, one of Britain's richest aristocrats, and he counted among his friends the Duke of Wellington, Count d'Orsay, Sir Francis Grant and Benjamin Disraeli.

The Countess of Wilton became one of the Duke of Wellington's closest friends and principal female correspondents. The Wilton estates included Heaton Hall, Manchester, where they entertained lavishly, and a large tract of land near Melton Mowbray, as well as the Manor of Oxenhope.

In this exuberant portrait we see the Countess dressed in an extravagant bonnet and sumptuous purple dress coat with jewelled belt and cuffs, communicating her status as the Earl's wife.

With gum arabic to intensify the colour.