Portrait of an elegant lady in riding habit, standing by a parkland tree oil on canvas 203.5 x 127cm (80 1/8 x 50in). unframed
Footnotes
Catherine Wills, from a photograph, describes this painting as '..early Grant. It is tightly painted, which was his style around 1840. Later, his paintwork became increasingly free'.
Wills also identified that Grant's 'sitters book' mentions three subjects which could be identified as this portrait from the period of 1838-1840: Mrs Bateman 1840 (RA 1840 No. 508); Mrs Heywood 1840 (Exhibited in the RA); Mrs John Mitchell 1838 ( RA 1839 No. 228).
Catherine Wills, with a PHD on Grant and curator of the 2003 exhibition to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Grants birth at the Edinburgh Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the author of the catalogue of this exhibition 'High Society', Scottish National Galleries, 2003. -- Grant was the fourth son of Francis Grant, Laird of Kilgraston, near Bridge of Earn, Perthshire. A keen fox-hunter himself, he made his name with sporting paintings and hunt group pictures. He acquired a reputation as a fine painter of "sporting" subjects and portraits, among these works were equestrian portraits of Queen Victoria and the prince consort; the Prince of Wales; and an equestrian group of the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, he contributed no fewer than 253 paintings to the exhibitions at the Royal Academy.
