Maria Anne Fitzherbert (née Smythe)

Reynolds's portrait of Maria Anne Fitzherbert from 1788, in the National Portrait Gallery, depicts one of the most romantically significant women in Georgian Britain — the Catholic widow who secretly married the Prince of Wales (later George IV) in a ceremony that was both legally void under the Royal Marriages Act and potentially treasonous given the prohibitions against royal Catholic marriage. The portrait was painted just three years after the secret marriage of 1785, at a moment when the connection was known in society but not publicly acknowledged. Reynolds, as the Prince of Wales's friend and the most fashionable portrait painter in London, was well placed to document this controversial figure; his portrait treats her with the same dignified warmth he brought to his less politically freighted female sitters. The National Portrait Gallery's holding of this work places it in the context of Georgian political history where questions of royal succession, religious law, and personal passion intersected with maximum consequence.

Reynolds renders Fitzherbert with his characteristic combination of idealizing warmth and individual characterization. The soft, blended technique and the warm palette create a flattering yet recognizable portrait that conveys both beauty and intelligence.