Philippe Mercier 1689-1760

The present drawing is a study for the face of Eleanor Viscountess Tyrconnel in Philippe Mercier's oil The Belton Conversation Piece (circa 1725) now at Belton House, Lincolnshire.

Eleanor, was the daughter of Sir John Brownlow, 3rd Bart., and Alice, daughter of Richard Sherard, of Lobthorpe, Lincolnshire.  She married her cousin, John Brownlow, son and heir of William Brownlow, 4th Bart., on 12th August 1712 at Belton House, Lincolnshire.  By the time she was in her thirties she had become an invalid and in Mercier's oil, painted in circa 1725, she is seen sitting in a 'chariot' pushed by her servant boy.   She died on 11th September 1730 and was buried at Belton.

We are grateful to John Ingamells for his help with cataloguing this lot