Lot 188: Portrait of a lady, traditionally identified as Margaret "Peg" Woffington (1720-1760), half-length, in a blue dress with lace wrap, cuffs and bonnet, behind a stone ledge with a bird's cage

Jean-Baptiste van Loo (Aix-en-Provence 1684-1745) Portrait of a lady, traditionally identified as Margaret "Peg" Woffington (1720-1760), half-length, in a blue dress with lace wrap, cuffs and bonnet, behind a stone ledge with a bird's cage oil on canvas 36 x 27 7/8 in. (91.2 x 70.8 cm.) in a contemporary carved giltwood frame

91.2 x 70.8 cm.

Belfast, Ulster Museum, An Exhibition of Portraits of Great Irishmen and Women, 24 June-24 July 1965, no. 239.

W.J. Lawrence, 'The Real Peg Woffington', The Connoisseur, VIII, January-April 1904, p. 42, illustrated. Major-General Sir John Hanbury-Williams, 'Peg Woffington and her portraits', The Connoisseur, CVI, December 1940, p. 227, illustrated. J. Kerslake, National Portrait Gallery: Early Georgian Portraits, London, 1977, pp. 313-4, as 'identified as Peg on insufficient evidence'.

F. Hanbury Williams (†); Christie's, London, 17 March 1888, lot 44 (45 gns. to the following), with Colnaghi, London. Major-General Sir John Hanbury-Williams, by 1940, and by descent to the present owner.

The sitter has traditionally been identified as the celebrated actress Margaret (Peg) Woffington. Born in Dublin, Peg attracted attention on account of her beauty when still a child, and at the age of ten she was already acting with the Dublin Lilliputian company in the role of Polly Peachum in a production of The Beggar's Opera. Her first important role was as Ophelia in a production at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin in 1737 which was followed by one of her greatest roles as Sir Harry Windair in Farquhar's Constant Couple which in 1740 led to her engagement by John Rich for Covent Garden. At Drury Lane and Covent Garden she played several Shakesperian roles and performed opposite Garrick in King Lear and Richard III, with whom she had a well publicised affair. Ill-health however forced her to quit the stage in 1757.