Duchess of Montagu (1711–1775)

Gainsborough's Duchess of Montagu of around 1758 depicts a member of the Montagu family — one of England's most distinguished aristocratic houses — in his early Bath manner, the portrait demonstrating his developing capacity for aristocratic female portraiture. The Duchess's rank required the formal grandeur of the full or three-quarter-length portrait, and Gainsborough's treatment creates the appropriate combination of aristocratic dignity with the natural freshness that distinguished his best female work from more labored competitors.

The handling shows Gainsborough rising to the occasion of a distinguished sitter, with more care and ambition in the treatment of the costume and pose than in his routine provincial commissions. The face is painted with warmth and delicacy, the ageing features treated with the tact that a duchess expected from her portraitist.