Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762)

This earlier portrait of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu may represent her before her famous journey to Constantinople in 1716-18, when she accompanied her husband on his ambassadorial posting and observed practices — including smallpox inoculation — that she would bring back to England. Lady Mary's vivid Embassy Letters, describing Ottoman court life, women's spaces, and Turkish culture with unprecedented sympathy and intelligence, were among the most significant travel writings of the eighteenth century. Kneller's earlier portrait shows her as a young woman before the experiences that would give her European fame, preserving evidence of her appearance before Turkey transformed her intellectual perspective.

The portrait follows Kneller's conventions for young aristocratic women, with fashionable dress and idealized features rendered in the smooth, accomplished technique of his productive studio.