Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on loan
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-joshua-reynolds-444" aria-label="More by Sir Joshua Reynolds" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir Joshua Reynolds</a>
Suzanna Beckford
Purchased 1947
actions: postures and motions
adults
Beckford, Susanna
bracelet
clothing and personal items
collar
curtain
dress
furnishings
hand / hands on hip
individuals: female
named individuals
objects
people
portraits
woman
<p>Among the most striking features of this portrait is Mrs. Beckford's lavish sacque dress (à la Francaise), of turquoise blue and silver watered silk, with matching silk trimmings on the bodice. The necklace, shoulder mantle and sleeve ruffles are of fine silk lace. Her jewellery includes clip-on earrings (called 'snaps'), probably made of paste, and on her wrists are two black silk bracelets mounted with portrait miniatures. Owing to the increasing pressure of business, Reynolds probably restricted his own contribution to the subject's pose and her head, leaving the detailed painting of her dress to a professional 'drapery' painter, or possibly to his young Italian studio assistant, Giuseppe Marchi.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
21 July 1989 – 31 March 2025
2025-03-31
21 July 1989 – 31 March 2025
2025-03-31
1989-07-21
Gainsborough’s House (Sudbury, UK)
1989-07-21
Long loan to Gainsborough's House
Loan-out
20 January 2005 – 30 September 2005
2005-09-30
20 January 2005 – 30 September 2005
2005-09-30
2005-01-20
Compton Verney (Compton Verney, UK)
2005-01-20
Reciprocal Loan for Reynolds
Loan-out
18 February 2009 – 17 May 2009
2009-05-17
18 February 2009 – 17 May 2009
2009-05-17
2009-02-18
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-02-18
Van Dyck and Britain
Exhibition
2 December 2010 – 14 October 2012
2012-10-14
2 December 2010 – 14 October 2012
2012-10-14
2010-12-02
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2010-12-02
Gallery 9
Collection based display
Suzanna Beckford
support: 1270 × 1022 mm
frame: 1543 × 1302 × 70 mm
Purchased 1947
<p>Among the most striking features of this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a> is not Mrs Beckford's face, but her opulent attire. She wears an open sacque dress (<i>à la Francaise</i>) of turquoise blue and silver watered silk, with matching silk trimmings on the bodice. The necklace, shoulder mantle and sleeve ruffles are of fine silk lace. Mrs Beckford's dark hair is unpowdered, and decorated with a headdress composed of ribbons and feathers, called a '<i>pompon</i>'. Her jewellery includes clip-on earings ('snaps'), probably made of paste, and on her wrists two black silk bracelets mounted with <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/miniature" title="Glossary definition for 'Miniature'"><span>miniatures</span></a>. The one on her right hand appears to be a bust-length portrait of a man in a blue coat, while the left one contains what may be a female figure in red, although the image is not legible. Their identity is unknown, although they may possibly have been her parents or other members of her immediate family.

</p><p>Reynolds began work on the present portrait in December 1755, when he noted down four appointments with Susannah Beckford in his pocket book. Although the pocket book for 1756 is lost, there may have been further sittings that year because the picture is initialled and dated 1756 by the artist. Susannah Beckford's husband, Francis, whose <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/pendant" title="Glossary definition for 'Pendant'"><span>pendant</span></a> portrait Reynolds was then <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a>, also sat to Reynolds in December 1755. (For further details on this portrait see the corresponding short text for Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/reynolds-francis-beckford-n05798" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05798</span></a>).<br/><b><br/></b>The present picture of Mrs Beckford, and that of her husband, was probably commissioned from Reynolds as a marriage portrait. Susannah Beckford (d.1803) was by then a very wealthy woman, the sole heir to the fortune amassed by her father, Richard Love of Basing Park, Hampshire.<b> </b>In February 1755 she married Francis Beckford (d. 1768), one of nine legitimate children of Peter Beckford, Governor of Jamaica, who had accumulated vast wealth from sugar and the slave trade. It was Francis Beckford's second marriage, his first wife having died in February 1754. According to the <i>London Magazine </i>for 1755<b> </b>Susannah's personal wealth at the time of her marriage was £20,000. <br/><br/>The dress in the present portrait would almost certainly have been painted from a dummy or 'lay figure', Mrs. Beckford's own sittings with Reynolds being used by the artist to model the facial features and general pose only. It is also probable, given the precision with which the costume is painted, that Reynolds relied upon the services of a professional 'drapery painter', or possibly his in-house assistant Giuseppe Marchi (d.1808). There is no surviving record of how much the portrait of Mrs Beckford<i> </i>cost, although at that time Reynolds is known to have charged twenty-four guineas for a so-called 'half-length' portrait, such as the present one. Precisely how much of this was passed on to the drapery painter is uncertain, although according to Marchi, out of the forty eight guineas Reynolds then charged for a full-length portrait, his drapery painter, Peter Toms (1728-77), received fifteen, or just less than a third.<b><br/> </b><b><br/></b>In the present portrait Mrs Beckford's left arm is placed upon her hip, an unusual pose for a female sitter, and one which derives from a male portrait by Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) of William, Lord Russell, in the double full-length portrait with Lord Digby (The Earl Spencer, Althorp).  <br/>
</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b><b><br/></b>David Mannings and Martin Postle, <i>Sir Joshua Reynolds. A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings</i>, 2 vols., New Haven and London 2000, vol.1, p.82, vol.2, p.185, fig.182, colour plate 18<br/>Aileen Ribeiro, <i>A Visual History of Costume. The Eighteenth Century</i>, London 1983, p.73<br/><br/>Martin Postle<br/>December 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>Among the most striking features of this  <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a> is Mrs. Beckford's lavish sacque dress  (à la Francaise), of turquoise blue and silver watered silk, with matching silk trimmings  on the bodice. The necklace, shoulder mantle  and sleeve ruffles are of fine silk lace. Her  jewellery includes clip-on earrings (called 'snaps'), probably made of paste, and on her wrists are  two black silk bracelets mounted with portrait <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/miniature" title="Glossary definition for 'Miniature'"><span>miniatures</span></a>. Owing to the increasing pressure of business, Reynolds probably restricted his own contribution to the subject's pose and her head, leaving the detailed <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> of her dress to a professional 'drapery' painter, or possibly to his young Italian studio assistant, Giuseppe Marchi.
</p><p>
</p>
Display caption
2004-08-31T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
actions: postures and motions adults Beckford, Susanna bracelet clothing and personal items collar curtain dress furnishings hand / hands on hip individuals: female named individuals objects people portraits woman