1778
Portrait of Lady Rodney [née Anne Harley]
Thomas GainsboroughEnglish, 1727 - 1788
The subject of this portrait is Anne Harley, daughter of a former lord mayor of London. In April 1781 she married the eldest son of the naval hero Lord Rodney. It has been suggested that the portrait was painted some months after the marriage, and that Anne's delicate gesture of lifting her train to her stomach signals pregnancy and deep contentment at approaching motherhood.
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