Edward Fisher after Sir Joshua Reynolds

The Right Hon.ble Lady Elizabeth Lee, Daughter of Simon Earl Harcourt

14 x 20 inches

A whole-length mezzotint portrait engraved by Edward Fisher after the painting by Reynolds; published in London circa 1765.

Lady Elizabeth Harcourt (1739-1811) was the eldest daughter of the 1st Earl Harcourt and was chosen as one of Queen Charlotte's train bearers at her wedding to George III in 1761. She married Sir William Lee in 1763 and, as was so often the case, proceeded to have a portrait painted by the most fashionable artist of the day, Sir Joshua Reynolds. She is depicted in a gracious repose wearing a voluminous satin or silk gown. She rests her elbow nonchalantly upon swathes of ermine thereby reminding the viewer of both her aristocratic ancestry and advantageous marriage.

Edward Fisher was one of the famous "Irish School" of engravers who arrived in London in the middle of the C18th to meet the demand for high quality mezzotint portraits in the burgeoning portrait market in Georgian London. He fast became one of Reynold's "go to" engravers in a symbiotic relationship that furthered both their reputations. If he had a fault it was that he was too fastidious with Reynolds complaining that he spent too much time in meticulously engraving parts of the portrait that did not require such detail. Although with only thread margins this is a fine impression.