Jacopo Amigoni (Venice 1682-1752 Madrid)


Portrait of Princess Mary (1723-1772), full-length, in a pink dress, seated in an interior oil on canvas126.8 x 97.2cm (49 15/16 x 38 1/4in).
|ProvenanceSale, Sotheby's, London, 18 November 1987, lot 34The Collection of Barry Byrne, by whom offeredSale, Christie's, Sydney, 16 July 1992, lot 752The fourth daughter of King George II and Queen Caroline, Princess Mary was born at Leicester House in 1723. She married the Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Kassel, only son and heir of William VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, by proxy at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, and then in person at Cassel in 1740. The marriage proved an unhappy one although the couple did go on to have three surviving sons. In 1756 Mary moved with her children to Denmark to take care of the children of her sister, Louise, Queen of Denmark who had died five years previously.Jacopo Amigoni came to England in 1729 and remained for the following ten years, his stay interrupted only by a brief visit to France in 1736. In the early 1730s he turned to portraiture and is known to have carried out several royal commissions, including portraits of at least 4 of the King's daughters.