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Louisa Anne Beresford
Sir Francis Grant
1859-60
Oil on canvas
35 7/8 in. x 23 1/8 in. (911 mm x 586 mm)
Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, London NPG 3176. Purchased, 1944
“ Painted twenty years after the event, this portrait of Louisa, Lady Waterford is a nostalgic depiction of her younger self dressed in the medieval-style costume she wore to the Eglinton Tournament of 1839. This full-scale 'recreation' of a Medieval contest, staged by the Earl of Eglinton, was the first grand costume event of Queen Victoria's reign. Lady Waterford's beautiful appearance had been much admired, and it was where she captivated her future husband, now deceased, who was playing a chivalric knight. Commissioned by friends, the painting became a poignant memento of her presence at this remarkable even” — National Portrait Gallery
