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| William Henry Egleton after John Hayter Honourable Louisa Stuart 1839 stipple engraving National Portrait Gallery, London |
Louisa Anne Stuart, later Louisa Anne Beresford, Marchioness of Waterford (1818-1891) learned to paint watercolors as a young woman in Paris, where her father was British ambassador. The National Portrait Gallery in London, which now possesses an album of her late work, reports that art was a major lifelong interest, along with the sorts of charitable exertions enjoined by the Christian religion as practiced in her day.
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| Camille Silvy Louisa Anne Beresford, Marchioness of Waterford 1861 albumen print National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| Louisa Anne Beresford Women carrying sticks 1888 watercolor National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| Louisa Anne Beresford Three children & a cat 1887 watercolor National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| Louisa Anne Beresford Two girls 1888 watercolor National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| Louisa Anne Beresford Children carrying flaming torches and singing 1887 watercolor National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| Louisa Anne Beresford School children 1888 watercolor National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| Louisa Anne Berersford School children 1888 watercolor National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| Louisa Anne Beresford School children 1888 watercolor National Portrait Gallery, London |
Conventional Victorian philanthropy sat very comfortably with the tastes and needs of this grand lady. She rebuilt a village for the laboring people on her estates in Northumberland, and added a school. This last she decorated with murals depicting scenes from the New and Old Testaments. Compliant locals served as models. Below, a few sketches of the evenings as they were passed within the sanctuary of the great house (where tenants seldom entered).
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| Louisa Anne Beresford Lady in pink, reading by lamplight 1888 watercolor National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| Louisa Anne Beresford Mary Cochran & Nora Thompson at the piano 1888 National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| Louisa Anne Beresford Mary Cochran 1888 watercolor National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| Louisa Anne Beresford Unidentified woman with ostrich fan 1887 watercolor National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| Louisa Anne Beresford Unidentified woman reading 1887 watercolor National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| Louisa Anne Beresford Mrs Walter Alexander (with folio) and Captain Ogle, R.N. 1888 watercolor National Portrait Gallery, London |