Lady Worsley

Reynolds painted Lady Worsley around 1779, depicting Seymour Dorothy Fleming, wife of Sir Richard Worsley of Appuldurceby, Isle of Wight. The portrait was painted shortly before the spectacular Worsley divorce trial of 1782, when Sir Richard sued his wife's lover for "criminal conversation" (adultery) — the ensuing trial revealed that Lady Worsley had been far more widely unfaithful than anyone imagined. Reynolds's portrait of the young woman in military-style riding habit projects confident self-possession. Now at Harewood House, the painting captures a figure whose scandalous life became one of the great sensations of Georgian England.

Reynolds presents Lady Worsley in his characteristic Grand Manner, using warm coloring and a landscape backdrop. The fluid handling and luminous flesh tones demonstrate his mastery of the society portrait.