Valentine GREEN after Sir Joshua Reynolds

The Right Hon.ble Lady Betty Delmé

15 x 25 inches

A full-length mezzotint engraving of Lady Delmé, pictured with her children, by Valentine Green after the portrait by Joshua Reynolds, published in London in 1790.

Lady Delmé was born in 1747, the daughter of Henry 4th Earl of Carlisle. In 1769 she married Peter Delmé, the Member of Parliament for Morpeth. He died in 1789 and in 1794 she remarried Captain Charles Garnier who was then, sadly, drowned in 1796. She died in Grosvenor Place in 1813. The children are believed to be John Delmé and Miss Delmé, both of whom predeceased their mother. Valentine Green was born in Worcestershire circa 1739. He began his working life in a lawyer’s office but soon became a pupil to an obscure line-engraver in Worcester. In the 1760’s he arrived in London and exhibited at Spring Gardens in 1766. In 1775 he was appointed associate engraver to the newly formed Royal Academy and mezzotint engraver to His Majesty, King George III. In 1789 he was fortunate enough to obtain the exclusive privilege of engraving the pictures in the Dusseldorf Gallery. He completed over twenty plates but unfortunately much of the work was destroyed in a siege of the town in 1798. Valentine Green died in London in 1813.

£750