Samuel Mackenzie RSA 1785-1847
Portrait of Jane Christie, later Duchess of Gordon (d.1824), c.1810
Oil on canvas
56 x 44 in.
Jane Christie of Fochabers, m. 4th Duke of Gordon as his 2nd wife, 1820. She had previously been his mistress.
Provenance
With Mrs Cumming, Cromwell House, Pembroke, 1907; with Agnews, 1911; purchased at Agnews by Knox D’Arcy; by descent.
Previously catalogued and sold as the work of Sir Thomas Lawrence, which is testament to its marvellous quality, the present portrait is now firmly attributed to the Scottish portraitist Samuel Mackenzie. As a young man Mackenzie worked in the Edinburgh studio of Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823).
The 4th Duke of Gordon was a prolific commissioner of portraits, and his first wife, Jane Maxwell, was painted by Reynolds, Raeburn, Romney, Lawrence and Daniel Gardiner.