Skip to main content
Portrait of Miss Mary Lilias Scott
Portrait of Miss Mary Lilias Scott

Portrait of Miss Mary Lilias Scott

Artist (British, 1713 – 1784)
Artist (Flemish, ca. 1699 – 1749)
Date1748
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsFrame: 100 3/4 x 65 3/4 x 3 1/4 in. (255.9 x 167 x 8.3 cm)
Image: 94 3/8 x 59 in. (239.7 x 149.9 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN387
The Scottish painter Allan Ramsay was one of the most famous and prolific portraitists of the 18th century. Mary Scott’s great beauty was celebrated in poetry, as we know from memoirs by her famous relative, the writer Sir Walter Scott. Ramsay himself was one of her suitors, though this portrait was commissioned by the Duke of Hamilton, whose offer of marriage she refused. As was often the case in portraits of this period, the drapery was painted by another artist, Joseph van Hacken, who specialized in the depiction of textiles.
On View
On view
Location
  • Museum of Art, Gallery 16, Wall North