Paintings

Jane Fleming, later Countess of Harrington

Type: Paintings(Opens in new tab)
Date: ca.1778-1779
Accession number: 13.3
Maker: Joshua Reynolds(Opens in new tab) (British, 1723–1792)
Sitter: Jane Fleming, later Countess of Harrington(Opens in new tab) (British, 1755–1824)
Dimensions: 94 1/4 x 58 1/16 in. (239.4 x 147.5 cm.) frame: 109 × 73 × 6 in. (276.9 × 185.4 × 15.2 cm.)
Medium: oil on canvas
Description: In this full-length portrait, Reynolds depicted Jane Fleming standing on a terrace against a cloudy blue sky. The sitter is wearing a classical rose robe, fastened over her left shoulder by a rose silk band, covering the right arm and shoulder and swathing the body.
Credit: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Department: European Art
Find out more: View in the Art Museum catalog(Opens in new tab)

Label text

Contemporary audiences would have recognized Jane's outstretched hand and arm as a conventional theater gesture that actors assumed when about to speak. Reynolds also refers to contemporary fashion, depicting Jane's hair ornamented by the ostrich feathers that the Duchess of Devonshire had recently made popular.

Jane Fleming, later Countess of Harrington

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