Lady Elizabeth Foster

Reynolds painted Lady Elizabeth Foster around 1787, depicting the woman who occupied one of the most unusual positions in Georgian aristocratic society — a permanent intimate of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, living with the couple in a ménage that puzzled and fascinated contemporaries. Lady Foster, separated from her own husband, became the closest companion of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, one of the most charismatic figures of the age, and eventually married the Duke after the Duchess's death in 1806. Reynolds's portrait of Lady Foster hangs at Chatsworth House — the Devonshire seat — in a context that immediately evokes the extraordinary social world she inhabited. Reynolds was himself a peripheral but connected figure in the Devonshire House circle, which brought together the leading figures of Whig politics and fashion in a permanent social salon. The portrait's soft, intimate handling suggests a personal rather than purely formal commission, and the evident sympathy Reynolds brings to his characterization of Lady Foster reflects his own engagement with the brilliant, unconventional social world she exemplified.

The portrait presents the lady with elegant refinement. Reynolds's handling creates an image of sophisticated feminine beauty.