William Dickinson after Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Mrs. Mathew.

15 x 25 inches

Here we have a fabulous example of what Joshua Reynolds became synonymous with: a full-length portrait of one of the beauties of his age. In this instance our sitter is Irish, Miss Elisha Smyth, the daughter of James Smyth born at Tinney Park in County Wicklow. Such was her reputation that Horace Walpole described her as ''a most perfect beauty''. Painted in 1777 when she was 31, she is, by now, married to Francis Mathew (later Lord Landaff) and I think we can concur with Walpole's assessment, she is a rare beauty indeed! She wears a tight fitting boddice with a string of pearls suspended from her décolletage. Her hair is artfully styled, piled high to meet the fashion of the day and she is accompanied by her faithful, albeit frisky spaniel. As with so many portraits of this period, there is an unknown sadness behind the facade. Only four years later in the summer of 1781, Mrs. Mathew was to die tragically young, afflicted with the dropsy (an excessive retention of fluids in the body). It is said that she was buried with great pomp at Thomaston Castle in County Tipperary.