“Inside the MFAH” provides perspectives, conversations, and opinions from insiders at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Posts Tagged england,
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03 AugFri / 2012
![](/site_media/cache/f9/54/f95404d2a2cb518878ca07b6ee4ece78.jpg "John Hoppner, Mrs. Jordan as "Viola," c. 1785–92, oil on canvas, Kenwood House, English Heritage; Iveagh Bequest, 1927 (88028789)")
Mrs. Jordan was the leading comic actress of Georgian England, and in this portrait by English artist John Hoppner, she is painted in her role as Viola from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. In the play, Viola disguises herself as a man so she can be a page for the Duke of Orsino.
Mrs. Jordan (1761–1816) led a remarkable life and has been the subject of many biographies. . .
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22 JunFri / 2012
Who’s that cover girl starring on the Kenwood House exhibition catalogue? None other than the indisputably beautiful Mary, Countess Howe. Putting her best (elegantly dressed) foot forward in her full-length portrait by Thomas Gainsborough, she stands proudly in a dress that would have been at the height of fashion in the mid-1700s. Her pale complexion and arsenal of expensive accessories also attest to her aristocratic status.
