Overall: 25 x 15 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches (63.5 x 39.4 x 24.1 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.19
Gallery Label:
Charlotte, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox (1768-1842), was the daughter of the 4th Duke of Gordon, and married her husband, the future fourth Duke of Richmond, in 1789. They had seven sons and seven daughters. The duke was a popular officer in the British army regiment called the Coldstream Guards, and in 1814 assumed the rank of general. The following year, in their large rented town house in Brussels, the duke and duchess gave the famous ball from which the Duke of Wellington was called away to face Napoleon at Waterloo. This bust was carved when the duke held the traditionally troublesome post of lord lieutenant of Ireland. The Duchess of Richmond was said to be "excessively proud, and disdainful of persons of inferior rank," though she liked to gamble recklessly. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2005
