Lady Elizabeth Hastings (1682–1739), Benefactress

This portrait of Lady Elizabeth Hastings, painted around 1710, depicts a woman celebrated in her time as a model of virtue and charitable benefaction. Lady Elizabeth was praised by Richard Steele in The Tatler as 'the most perfect good woman' — an extraordinary public compliment that made her a cultural icon of female virtue in the early eighteenth century. Her charitable activities were extensive, and her portrait by Kneller preserves the image of a woman whose moral reputation was as much a subject of public attention as her aristocratic birth. In an era when women's public identity was constrained, Lady Elizabeth's virtue made her a rare figure of non-domestic female celebrity.

Kneller presents the benefactress with the modest dignity befitting a woman known for virtue rather than vanity, the restrained costume and composed expression reflecting the sitter's celebrated moral character.