01 work, PORTRAIT OF A LADY, Francis Cotes' Portrait of the Duchess of Marlborough, with Footnotes. #199

Francis Cotes, R.A., London 1726 - 1770

Portrait of a lady, said to be The Duchess of Marlborough, three-quarter length, seated and reading a book

Oil on canvas

127.3 x 102 cm.; 50⅛ x 40⅛ in.

Private collection

Sold for 15,120 GBP in April 2022

Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, Princess of Mindelheim, Countess of Nellenburg (5 June 1660 – 18 October 1744), was an English courtier who rose to be one of the most influential women of her time through her close relationship with Anne, Queen of Great Britain. By the time Anne became queen, Sarah’s knowledge of government and intimacy with the queen had made her a powerful friend and a dangerous enemy.

Sarah enjoyed a "long and devoted" relationship with her husband of more than 40 years, the great general John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. After Anne's father, King James II, was deposed during the Glorious Revolution, Sarah acted as her agent, promoting her interests during the reigns of William III and Mary II. When Anne came to the throne after William's death in 1702, the Duke of Marlborough, together with Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, rose to head the government partly owing to his wife.

While the Duke was fighting the War of the Spanish Succession, Sarah kept him informed of court intrigue and conveyed his requests and political advice to the queen. Sarah campaigned tirelessly on behalf of the Whigs. A strong-willed woman, she strained her relationship with the Queen whenever they disagreed on political, court, or church appointments. After her final break with Anne in 1711, Sarah and her husband were dismissed from Court, but she had her revenge under the Hanoverian kings following Anne's death. She later had famous disagreements with many important people, including her daughter Henrietta Godolphin The money she inherited from the Marlborough trust left her one of the richest women in Europe. She died in 1744, aged 84. More on Duchess of Marlborough

Francis Cotes RA (20 May 1726 – 16 July 1770) was an English painter, one of the pioneers of English pastel painting, and a founding member of the Royal Academy in 1768.

Cotes trained with portrait painter George Knapton (1698–1778) before setting up his own business in his father's business premises in London's Cork Street—learning, incidentally, much about chemistry to inform his making of pastels.

An admirer of the pastel drawings of Rosalba Carriera, Cotes concentrated on works in pastel and crayon. After pushing crayon to its limit as a medium—although he was never to abandon it entirely—Cotes turned to oil painting as a means of developing his style in larger-scale works. 

After 1746 the costumes in his pictures were mostly executed by the specialist drapery painter Peter Toms.

One of the most fashionable portrait painters of his day, Cotes helped found the Society of Artists of Great Britain and became its director in 1765. At the peak of his powers, Cotes was invited to become one of the first members of the Royal Academy, but died just two years later, aged 44, in Richmond. More on Francis Cotes

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