Oil paint on canvas
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-hogarth-265" aria-label="More by William Hogarth" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">William Hogarth</a>
Lavinia Fenton Duchess Bolton
Purchased 1884
actor
adults
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arts and entertainment
Bolton, Lavinia Paulet, Duchess of
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Fenton, Lavinia
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<p>This is said to be a portrait of the actress and singer Lavinia Fenton (1708–60), who starred as the heroine Polly Peachum in the original and highly successful 1728 production of The Beggar’s Opera. After it closed, Fenton ran away with her lover, Charles Paulet, 3rd Duke of Bolton (1685–1754) and the couple had three sons. When the Duke’s estranged wife died in 1751, the Duke and Lavinia married and she became Duchess of Bolton. This portrait – if correctly identified – shows her in later life. She died in Greenwich in 1760.</p><p><em>Gallery label, June 2018</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
22 October 2001 – 27 June 2004
2004-06-27
22 October 2001 – 27 June 2004
2004-06-27
2001-10-22
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-10-22
Hogarth and the Theatre of Life
Collection based display
18 October 2006 – 7 January 2007
2007-01-07
18 October 2006 – 7 January 2007
2007-01-07
2006-10-18
Musée du Louvre (Paris, France)
21 May 2007 – 26 August 2007
2007-08-26
2007-05-21
CaixaForum Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain)
http://www3.lacaixa.es
2006-10-18
Hogarth
Loan-out
7 February 2007 – 29 April 2007
2007-04-29
18 October 2006 – 7 January 2007
2007-01-07
2006-10-18
Musée du Louvre (Paris, France)
7 February 2007 – 29 April 2007
2007-04-29
2007-02-07
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
21 May 2007 – 26 August 2007
2007-08-26
2007-05-21
CaixaForum Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain)
http://www3.lacaixa.es
2007-02-07
Hogarth
Exhibition
12 October 2007 – 31 October 2010
2010-10-31
12 October 2007 – 31 October 2010
2010-10-31
2007-10-12
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2007-10-12
Hogarth and London
Collection based display
20 October 2014 – 31 August 2015
2015-08-31
1 May 2015 – 31 August 2015
2015-08-31
2015-05-01
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery (Bristol, UK)
http://www.bristol-city.gov.uk
2014-10-20
Hogarth display
Loan-out
24 October 2014 – 26 April 2015
2015-04-26
20 October 2014 – 26 April 2015
2015-04-26
2014-10-20
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2014-10-24
William Hogarth
Collection based display
Lavinia Fenton, Duchess of Bolton
support: 737 × 584 mm
frame: 1085 × 925 × 125 mm
Purchased 1884
<p>Lavinia Fenton was apparently born in 1708, the illegitimate daughter of a naval lieutenant named Beswick. Following his death at sea her mother married a Mr Fenton, who ran a coffee house near Charing Cross, and who sent Lavinia away to boarding school. In 1725 she attracted the attentions of a Portuguese nobleman who, having run up debts in catering for her desires, ended up in the Fleet Prison. It was after this, in 1726, that another unnamed aristocrat used his influence to launch her career on the London stage. Her first recorded appearance was at the Haymarket Theatre in the spring of 1726, after which she joined John Rich's company at Lincoln's Inn Fields. On 29 January 1728 she gave her first performance as Polly Peachum, the lawyer's daughter, in John Gay's <i>The Beggar's Opera </i>(1728), a role which guaranteed her subsequent fame.  

</p><p>Today, Lavinia's most celebrated appearance is in Hogarth's <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 the prison scene from Act III of <i>The Beggar's Opera </i>(Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hogarth-a-scene-from-the-beggars-opera-vi-n02437" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02437</span></a>), where she pleads with her father for the life of the highwayman Macheath. Foremost among the admirers of her performance was Charles Paulet, 3<sup>rd</sup><sup></sup><sup></sup> Duke of Bolton, who can be seen to the right of the stage in Hogarth's painting, exchanging glances with her. Bolton apparently fell in love with her at first sight. She became his  mistress, bearing him three sons. Eventually, on the death of his wife in 1751, the Duke married Lavinia.  Following his death in 1754, she became romantically involved with the Irish surgeon George Kelly. She died in January 1760 and is buried in the church of St. Alphege, Greenwich.

</p><p>The sitter has traditionally been identified as Lavinia Fenton since 1797, when an <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/engraving" title="Glossary definition for 'Engraving'"><span>engraving</span></a> 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> was issued.  However the identification is by no means secure, especially when the face is compared to other attested images, notably the engraving of 1728 by John Faber after a painting by John Ellys, an unattributed <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/pastel" title="Glossary definition for 'Pastel'"><span>pastel</span></a> portrait of 1745 (Einberg and Egerton 1988, pp.75-6, figs.24 and 23), and an oil portrait by Thomas Bardwell of <i>c</i>. 1750 (Compton Verney House Trust).<b> </b>The present portrait does not, as has been claimed, portray Lavinia Fenton in the role of Polly Peachum, her clothing here being far richer than the plain Quaker apparel which the part apparently demanded.  It has been dated to the 1740s on stylistic grounds. However, it is possible it was painted somewhat later, around the time of her marriage to the Duke, whose portrait Hogarth is also supposed to have painted.

</p><p>X-rays taken by Tate have revealed that Hogarth repainted whole sections of the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a>, the face only remaining completely unchanged.  Originally the sitter wore a small hat with feathers; in her right hand she held a piece of drapery, possibly a glove, while her left hand rested upon what appears to have been a basket of flowers.  At some stage the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/canvas" title="Glossary definition for 'Canvas'"><span>canvas</span></a>, which was originally square, has been cut down.

</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b><b><br/></b>Elizabeth Einberg and Judy Egerton, <i>The Age of  Hogarth. British Painters born 1675-1709</i>, Tate Gallery1988, pp.106-9, pl. 102 (colour)

</p><p>Martin Postle<br/>September 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div class="text">
<p>We think this is a portrait of the actress and singer Lavinia Fenton (1708–1760), who starred as the heroine Polly Peachum in the original and highly successful 1728 production of The Beggar’s Opera. After it closed, Fenton ran away with her lover, Charles Paulet, 3rd Duke of Bolton (1685–1754) and the couple had three sons. When the Duke’s estranged wife died in 1751, the Duke and Lavinia married, and she became Duchess of Bolton. This portrait – if correctly identified – shows her in later life.</p>
</div>

Online caption
2023-11-29T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hogarth-lavinia-fenton-duchess-of-bolton-n01161" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01161</span></a> <b>Lavinia Fenton, later Duchess of Bolton</b> <i>c.</i>
1740–5
<br/></p>
<p>Oil on oval canvas, 762×628 (30×24 3/4)
<br/>Purchased by the National Gallery (R.C. Wheeler Fund) 1884; transferred to the Tate Gallery 1919
<br/>PROVENANCE ...; Samuel Ireland by 1797, when engraved for his <i>Graphic Illustrations</i>, and sold Sotheby's 7 May 1801 (454) £5 7s 6d bt William Seguier; ...; George Watson MP, of Erlestoke Park, nr Devizes, by 1808 (who assumed the additional surname of Taylor in 1815); Erlestoke Park sale, Robins, 9 July–1 August 1832, 19th Day, 24 July (52) £52 10 0; ...;? Frederick Gaye, who lent a ‘Duchess of Bolton’ by Hogarth to the BI 1850 (161); ...; Sir William Miles, Leigh Court, nr Bristol, where listed by Waagen 1854; by descent to his son Sir Philip Miles, sold Christie's 28 June 1884 (30) bt Agnew for the National Gallery
<br/>EXHIBITED BI 1814 (119, corrected in MS to 122 in some catalogues);? BI 1850 (161); <i>International Exhibition</i>, South Kensington 1862 (41); RA Winter 1875 (137); Tate Gallery 1951 (46); BC tour 1957 (33, repr. p.75); <i>Painting and Sculpture in England 1700–1750</i>, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool 1958 (19); Tate Gallery 1971 (109, repr.).
<br/>ENGRAVED 1. Line engraving by C. Apostool 1797, with above title for S. Ireland's <i>Graphic Illustrations</i>, II, 1799 2. Etching by T. Cook, in reverse, for Nichols &amp; Steevens, 11, 1810
<br/>LITERATURE Ireland 1799, pp.49–56; Nichols &amp; Steevens, I, 1808, pp.112, 425, II, 1810, p.287, III, 1817, pp.172, 207; Nichols 1833, p.387; Waagen 1854, III, p.185; <i>Art Journal</i>, 1885, p.76, repr.; Dobson 1907, p.211; <i>DNB</i> 1908, VI, XV (for Fenton and Paulet); Beckett 1949, p.48, no.115, repr.; Antal 1962, pp.58, 118, 252 n.60, pl.69a; Baldini &amp; Mandel 1967, p.105, no.117, repr.; Paulson 1971, I, pp.181, 554 n.19; Webster 1979, pp.97, 184 no.110, repr. p.104
<br/></p>
<p>The history of the <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> before Apostool's <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/engraving" title="Glossary definition for 'Engraving'"><span>engraving</span></a> of 1797 is not known, nor are Samuel Ireland's reasons for identifying it as Lavinia Fenton (1708–60), the original Polly Peachum of <i>The Beggar's Opera</i> in 1728 (see <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hogarth-a-scene-from-the-beggars-opera-vi-n02437" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02437</span></a>). As the style of <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> is consistent with Hogarth's work of the 1740s, it certainly cannot represent her, as has been often claimed, in the part of Polly, nor does the rich apparel shown here agree with the deliberately plain costume of the part, which, we are told, affected ‘the simplicity of a modern quaker’ (Charles Macklin, <i>Memoirs</i>, 1804, p.48). If the painting does indeed represent the actress, it would show her, as Antal already noted, in her riper years. The only certain comparison available is the portrait mezzotinted by Faber in 1728 after John Ellys, and the resemblance is not entirely convincing, even allowing for differences in age and painting styles. A set of <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/pastel" title="Glossary definition for 'Pastel'"><span>pastel</span></a> portraits of the Duke, Lavinia and their sons, of <i>c.</i>
1738–40, datable from the ages of the children, still in Powlett family, also cannot offer conclusive evidence on grounds of likeness. (The compiler is indebted to Rear Admiral Powlett, Lord Bolton and Miss J.P. Smith for information on the Powlett/Paulet family).
<br/>
<br/>Lavinia was the illegitimate child of a navy lieutenant named Beswick. Her mother, whose married name was Fenton, kept a fashionable coffee house near Charing Cross. The girl received a good boarding school education, but her good looks, vivacity and musical gifts gained her an early entry into the London stage, where she began to appear from 1726 onwards, always with great success. In January 1728 John Rich, the manager of Lincoln's Inn Theatre, engaged her as Polly in <i>The Beggar's Opera</i>, which became a great popular hit largely due to her performance: the success of Gay's new-style opera appears to have been in some doubt, until her affecting rendering of Polly's plea to her father to spare Macheath's life in ‘O! ponder well: be not severe’ carried the audience completely, launching the work on its unprecedented sixty-two-night run. Public interest was also greatly engaged by the fact that from the first night she so captivated Charles Paulet, 3rd Duke of Bolton (1685–1754), that he became a constant attendant at performances. At the end of the season Lavinia retired from the stage to become his mistress. In this role she is said to have been an accomplished and delightful companion and a model of discretion. She bore the Duke three illegitimate sons, who made successful careers in the army, navy and church (Collins, <i>Peerage of England</i>, 1812, II, pp.385–6, under Marquis of Winchester). On the death of his estranged wife in 1751, the Duke married Lavinia, and she became the second Duchess of Bolton. Widowed in 1754, her reputation was marred in the last years of her life by a liaison with an Irish surgeon named George Kelley, who became her executor and legatee. She died at Westcombe Park, Greenwich, in January 1760, and lies buried in the church of St Alphege.
<br/>
<br/>The Duke is said to have been painted by Hogarth soon after his second marriage, but no such portrait is known. It is, however, just possible that this portrait might represent Lavinia round about this time, as a later dating of the painting cannot be ruled out.
<br/>
<br/>Extensive pentimenti show that it was at some stage radically reworked by the artist himself, and recent X-rays suggest that only the face remains completely unchanged. In the original design the sitter wore a rakishly tilted hat with a tall tuft of feathers on the right, possibly with some flowers tucked under the brim on the left. She held up some drapery with her right hand and steadied an object, probably a basket of flowers, against it with her left; her decolletage was either V-shaped, or she wore a medallion on a long ribbon round her neck. The resulting over-crowding may be the reason why Hogarth altered it to the much simpler <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> that it is now. Stretch marks show that the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/canvas" title="Glossary definition for 'Canvas'"><span>canvas</span></a> was originally square and was presumably painted with a conventional false oval surround of which the inside edge is still visible. It is not known when the canvas was cut down to its present shape. The paint surface has suffered in the past, and it is probable that the dark shadows around her eyes would have been less apparent under the original glazes.
<br/>
<br/>A portrait said to be of Lavinia Fenton by Hogarth was exhibited at the <i>National Portrait Exhibition</i> at South Kensington in 1867 (240, repr.), but as far as one can judge from the <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/photograph" title="Glossary definition for 'Photograph'"><span>photograph</span></a> there is nothing to substantiate either claim.</p>
<p>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Elizabeth Einberg and Judy Egerton, <i>The Age of Hogarth: British Painters Born 1675-1709</i>, Tate Gallery Collections, II, London 1988
<br/>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actor adults aristocrat arts and entertainment Bolton, Lavinia Paulet, Duchess of clothing and personal items dress earring Fenton, Lavinia hat, cap individuals: female named individuals necklace objects people portraits royalty and social rank singer woman work and occupations