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G0122
Paintings: G0122
Title
Catherine Clive
Technique
Oil on canvas
Subject
Artist
Date
1740
Dimensions
Height: 124.5cm
Width: 99cm
height (frame): 145cm
width (frame): 120cm
Width: 99cm
height (frame): 145cm
width (frame): 120cm
Inscription/signature
"Wm. Verelst Pinxit 1740" (c. r.)
Provenance
Charles Mathews; Francis Fladgate, by whom presented, 1854
Other number
Mathews 48
RW 25 (by Joseph Van Haaken or J. Davison)
CKA 25
Gift 230
RW 25 (by Joseph Van Haaken or J. Davison)
CKA 25
Gift 230
Exhibition history
1833 London, Queen's Bazaar, Oxford Street, "Mr Mathews's Gallery of Theatrical Portraits" (48)
Sept 2018-Jan 2019, The Foundling Museum, 'Women of Note'.
Literature
Fitzgerald, p.224; Griffiths, p.306
Mrs Clive is shown three-quarter length, seated at a double harpsichord, and holding a sheet of music on which occur the words 'Sweet Bird' an aria from Handel's 'l"Allegro, il Penseroso ed il il Moderato'. Though Kitty Clive and Handel had worked together at Drury lane, since the composer's appointment in 1728, she never in fact sang 'Sweet Bird' on stage. Instead this portrait, paintied in 1740, is an allusion to her reputation as the 'Sweet Bird' of the English stage. She wears a grey silk dress trimmed with lace and pearls.
A portrait of Kitty Clive by Jeremiah Davison, once owned by her neighbour at Strawberry Hill, Horace Walpole, and now at Longleat, shows her similarly posed with an open book of music.
A portrait of Kitty Clive by Jeremiah Davison, once owned by her neighbour at Strawberry Hill, Horace Walpole, and now at Longleat, shows her similarly posed with an open book of music.
