Mrs Mary Robinson

Reynolds painted Mrs. Mary Robinson around 1784, depicting the actress, novelist, and poet known as 'Perdita' — a nickname derived from her celebrated performance in The Winter's Tale at Drury Lane in 1779, which had caught the attention of the young Prince of Wales. Robinson's affair with the future George IV was brief and disastrous for her; the prince broke off the relationship and refused to honour the bond for £20,000 he had signed, leaving Robinson financially ruined and reputationally damaged. She subsequently reinvented herself as a serious writer and radical feminist, becoming one of the most significant women authors of the 1790s. Reynolds's portrait, painted some years after the royal scandal, presents a woman of evident intelligence and composure — a characterization that acknowledges her literary and intellectual identity rather than simply recording her physical beauty. The Wallace Collection's holding of the canvas places it alongside several other Reynolds portraits of women from outside conventional society, demonstrating his consistent willingness to engage with the full range of Georgian female experience beyond the aristocratic mainstream.

The portrait presents the actress with theatrical elegance. Reynolds's handling captures her famous beauty with characteristic warmth.