Mrs. Whaley (died 1798, Isle of Man)

Mrs. Whaley (died 1798, Isle of Man)

Mrs. Whaley (died 1798, Isle of Man)
Artist:Attributed to George Chinnery (British, London 1774–1852 Macau)
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:93 1/2 x 58 in. (237.5 x 147.3 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Henry S. Morgan, 1947
Accession Number:47.138

The sitter's maiden name was Maria Courtney but for some seven or eight years before her death in 1798 in Douglas, Isle of Man, she was known as Mrs. Whaley. She was the constant companion of a wealthy and dissolute young Irishman, Thomas, or Buck, Whaley, by whom she had four children: Thomas, Richard, Ann, and Sophia Isabella. They lived in a house Buck Whaley built on the Isle of Man, where this portrait may have hung in the dining room. The coloring is sober and autumnal and the figure quite withdrawn. The black dress figured with leaves would have been thought elegant and modern. This portrait may have been painted about 1795.

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