The Lady Mary (Brudenell) and Thomas Bowlby(7)
October, 2000
Photographs supplied by Gainsborough's House, the birthplace museum of the artist, Sudbury, Suffolk, UK.
Lady Mary (Brudenell)
Bowlby (1717-1813) and Thomas Bowlby (abt. 1721-1795).
Thomas (7), son of
Thomas(6), Richard(5), Richard(4), John(3), John(2), Richard(1)
We *must* profusely thank Mr. Hugh Belsey, Curator of the museum, who has so kindly shepherded these beautiful prints of the portraits of our ancestors. Both of these portraits are currently in private collections. Thomas Gainsborough painted what may have been companion portraits of Thomas Bowlby and Lady Mary in Bath in 1766. These portraits were separated for nearly 150 years. On 2 February 1987, the London Times published an article entitled: HUSBAND AND WIFE REUNITED. The article showcases the efforts of Mr. Belsey, and it appears with a photograph of him with the portraits. Mr. Belsey diligently hunted down the location of the Gainsborough portrait of Thomas Bowlby, and reunited the portraits for a couple of months in 1987 for a showing at the Gainsborough House. The portraits are both oil on canvas and measure 30 by 25 inches. Fortunately Mr. Belsey kindly supplied these B/W photos of the portraits, and has granted permission for their display at our Web site.
Lady Mary was the daughter of George Brudenell, 3rd Earl of Cardigan. Her first husband was Richard Powys (or Powis) of Hintlesham Hall, county Suffolk. Together, they apparently had two children. After Lady Mary became widowed, she married Thomas Bowlby on 20 June 1754 at St. George's Hanover Square. The portraits were owned by either a branch of the Bowlby family, or perhaps Lady Mary's descendants until 1855, at which time the painting of Lady Mary was bought by the distinguished Victorian painter, George Richmond. Richmond greatly admired Gainsborough's work. After Richmond's death, another branch of the Bowlby family bought the portrait and presumably had a copy made of the portrait of Thomas. The original remained with another branch of the family. With luck, and in time, perhaps these various branches of the family will make themselves known to the rest of us so we might better understand this history.
Since that time, the portrait of Lady Mary has been sold and is on view at Deene Park in Northamptonshire. The Deene Park estate has belonged to the Brudenell family since 1514, when it was bought by Sir Robert Brudenell.
Sir Joshua Reynolds also painted a portrait of Thomas Bowlby in 1765. This portrait is currently on display in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. Maureen Tucker of the Registration Department suggests if anyone would like to set up an appointment to look at the historical file on the Reynolds Portrait of Thomas Bowlby, to contact the Associate Registrar Terry Harley-Wilson and make arrangements (317) 923-1331 ext. 179. Ms. Tucker shares with us the following information she found on an old label copy for the painting:
A protâegâee of the Duke of Northumberland, Bowlby was a member of Horace Walpole's circle, for which he acted occasionally as a kind of artistic go-between. It was no doubt through these contacts that he came to have his portrait painted by Reynolds, whom Walpole regarded as the savior of English art. As in Gower's "Lady Philippa Coningsby, " the gesture and inscription present a moral injunction of a surprisingly traditional nature. The apple is a symbol of original sin and "BASTA" (inscribed on the upper right corner of the painting) is the Italian word for "enough." Together they may be taken as an admonition to renounce sin for the path of righteousness. "Thomas Bowlby" presents a combination of devices found in Titian's "Portrait of a Man" and Valentin de Boullogne's "Rafaello Menicucci." Despite his debt to Van Dyck, Reynolds recommended studying all the great painters of the past and incorporated a wide variety of elements gleaned from them in his portraits.
Our cousin and fellow researcher, Ronnie Bowlby shares the following quotation from the Memoire of Frances, Lady Douglas, edited by Lady Louisa Stewart and published by the Scottish Academic Press in 1985.
"Lord William (Gordon) I must enlarge upon, as the duke of Buccleugh's old friend, and the very life and soul of the Dalkeith coteries in town and country. He was a character, an original; odd, clever, beyond measure entertaining; one of those people who appear to have bullied the world out of an unlimited license to say and do whatsoever they please. Upon any extraordinary speech or extravagant action, his friends coolly observed - "Ah! that is so like him!" - Others asked - "will he never shut up?" - alluding to the family malady - but neither gave it a second thought. Wherever he gained a footing there he was master, sure to govern. You knew not how or why, but the whole family, men, women, chidlren, dogs and cats obeyed him; nobody disputed his pleasure: nor could any body make a stand against him whom he disliked or had a mind to turn to ridicule. He set about it above board, visibly and audibly, with such force of humour, that , pleased or displeased, all held their sides except the victim. For instance, Mr. Bowlby, a shallow affected old coxcomb - but the Duchess's uncle -gave himself the air of sentimentally languishing for Lady Morton. I have known Lord William sitting at supper in Grosvenor Square directly opposite to them, talk (more than half aloud) of Philander and Celia, Strephon and Chloris; expatriate - regardless of hush and fye from every side- upon faithful knights, and enamoured swains, and pastoral love, and platonic love , and Lord knows how much more nonsense, 'till the whole company tired of hatching coughs and almost swallowing their handkerchiefs laughed our in chorus. The duke and duchess declared it too bad but laughed like the rest. After one of these scenes, Lady Mary Bowlby, seriously incensed, would not speak to him. Then the joke was to entrap her into it against her will; watching her looks, and playing all sorts of monkey-tricks to extort a monosyllable by surprise."
He
certainly sounds like a Bowlby to me!
Husband: Thomas BOWLBY
------------------------------------------
Birth: abt 1721
Baptism: 2 May 1721 St. Mary-le-Bow, Durham
Death: 1795
Marriage: 20 Jun 1754 St. George's Hanover Square
Father: Thomas BOWLBY
Mother: Mary BURRELL (b abt 1697)
============================
Wife: Lady Mary BRUDENELL
------------------------------------------
Birth: 1717
Death: 21 Feb 1813 London, England
============================
No Children
============================
Sources used for this article:
Raymond Edwin Bowlby. Bowlby Families in England. Higginson, 1993. pg 21.
http://www.surnameweb.org/centers/i/inman/documents/nidderdale7.htm.
Ronnie Bowlby. email exchange Oct. 2000, referencing Charles Cotsford Bowlby's The 1915 pedigree submitted to the London College of Arms.
London Times article HUSBAND AND WIFE REUNITED, 2 Feb. 1987
http://www.skynet.co.uk/maurice/northants/ndeene.htm Deene Park site
Maureen Tucker, Registration Department, Indianapolis Museum of Art, email exchanges March 2000
Hugh Belsey, Curator of the Gainsborough House, the birthplace museum of the artist, email exchanges Sept. and Oct. 2000
Gainsborough's House, Sudbury Suffolk UK - The Trust (UK registered charity number 214046) which runs Gainsborough's House as a museum relies on donations to provide its services.