Edward Fisher after Sir Joshua Reynolds

Elizabeth Keppel

19.5 x 29 inches

Elizabeth Keppel was born in 1739, the 5th daughter of the 2nd Earl of Albermarle and his wife Lady Anne Lennox. She was one of Queen Charlotte's bridesmaids in 1761. In 1764 she married Francis, Marquis of Tavistock who died accidentally in March 1767. It was said that she was desperately in love with her husband and consequently pined away after his death and then died herself in November of the following year. Her elder sons were the 5th and 6th Dukes of Bedford and her youngest son, born after his father's death, was murdered by Courvoisier in 1840. Her descendent was, of course, Alice Keppel the infamous mistress to King Edward VII and great grandmother of Camilla Parker-Bowles.

Edward Fisher was born in Ireland in 1730 and started his career as a hatter. He travelled to London and it was here that learnt how to engrave, most probably under the guidance of his fellow countryman, James McArdell. He became a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists in 1766. His prints date from 1758 to 1781 and comprise mostly portraits after his contemporaries. He lived for a while at an address in Leicester Square but appears to have moved to Ludgate Street in 1778. He engraved many portraits after Joshua Reynolds who called him "injudiciously exact" for paying undue time and attention to unimportant areas of the plate that did not require such attention to detail. He died in 1785.