Mary, Duchess of Montagu

The Duchess of Montagu (1711–1775) had much to commemorate when this portrait was painted. In 1766, she and her husband (then Earl and Countess of Cardigan) assumed the re-created Montagu dukedom, which had ended with the death of her father, and in 1767, their daughter Elizabeth married the Duke of Buccleuch. All four of them would be portrayed by Gainsborough. Their elevated social ranks reflect Gainsborough's having become the most fashionable portraitist in Bath. He referred to this portrait as representing his "latest manner," as in, his newest painting style. It presents the duchess with dignity, celebrating the beauty of older age through sensitive articulation of fine lines and contours of her face. Her restrained expression contrasts with the cascade of red fabric and her sumptuous attire: a blue silk robe à la française adorned with lace engageantes (false sleeves) at the elbows, white shawl, and lace kerchief covering her chest. A "fly" headdress frames her clustered earring, which would have been made from as many as two hundred diamonds. In contrast to the pert rosebud gripped by the young subject of Sarah Hodges, Later Lady Innes, the Duchess of Montagu holds a rose and bud resting at her lap, as if to signal graceful maturity.