Portrait of Miss Mary Palliser

Frederic William Burton

1871

Watercolour and gouache on paper

41 ½r x 33 ½r inches (105.3 x 85 cm).

Collection of the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan, inventory no. R-D2220.

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In 1868 Burton was commissioned to paint the portrait of Miss Mary Palliser of Comeragh House, County Waterford, in Ireland. She was the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Wray Bury Palliser and his wife Anne Gledstanes. She was also the sister of the famous explorer Sir John Palliser who helped survey Western Canada in the 1850s. The painting was not completed until 1871.

During the course of its commission Burton and Mary became engaged. By the time the painting was completed Burton would have been fifty-five while Mary was thirty-seven.