Publications | Down Survey | 2002 Issue Contents

A legendary beauty:Priscilla Countess Annesley ( 1866-1941 )
Eileen Black

The acquisition of a portrait sketch of Priscilla, Countess Annesley by the eminent Belfast born artist Sir John Lavery (18561941 ) is a significant addition to Down County Museum's holdings. That the sitter has local connections makes the painting doubly interesting and appealing. Bought in 2001 with generous financial assistance from the Esme Mitchell Trust, the small picture, dating from 1931, is amongst numerous oil studies for one of Lavery's major works: Their Majesties' Court Buckingham Palace (1931 ).¹ Though the location of this latter is untraced and the only known image is the somewhat poor photograph reproduced here, the painting certainly seems to have been impressive. According to The National Graphic, it 'caused a stir at this year's [ 1932's] Royal Academy ... won unstinted praise from the critics ... [and] provided ample evidence of the skill that has made Sir John the most sought after Court and Society portraitist of our time'.² The scene shows a crowded royal reception of mostly women, wearing the court dress de rigueur for the time: white or cream full-length gown, feathered headdress with train, feathered fan, long gloves and one's family jewels.³ Amidst the throng of women of varying ages can be seen uniformed men possibly equerries - who appear to be acting as marshals of the large press of people.

Interestingly, two other studies for the painting are recorded: an unspecified work in the Legion of Honour Gallery, San Francisco, referred to in Lavery's autobiography and The Debutantes reproduced in Kenneth McConkey's monograph on the artist.4 As suggested by the title, this latter piece depicts two young women in court dress, one sitting, the other standing. These two studies, together with that of Countess Annesley, comprise the only known examples for Their Majesties' Court. However, considering that the painting contains at least one hundred figures, there must have been many more studies produced. That these are now either lost or destroyed makes Down County Museum's acquisition all the more special. In this particular work, the Countess is shown wearing a vivid red and blue gown, with accompanying tiara, feathered head-dress and train. Strong colours like these were very much to the taste of the Countess; as her daughter, the actress Constance Malleson recollected in her autobiography, 'My father liked to see my mother dressed in black ... but my mother always preferred the brightest of colours: post-office red, emerald green, vivid crimson'.5

Sir John Lavery (1856-1941), Priscilla, Countess Annesley (1866-1941). Study for their Majesties' Court, Buckingham Palace (1931). Oil on board 53.3 x 33.3cms. Down County Museum (DCM 2002-92). Purchase

Whilst the gown in the painting may have been one of her favourites, she would certainly not have worn it to the royal reception pictured by Lavery - the colours were much too garish. The most likely explanation is that Lavery modelled her wearing it as it was similar in style to her court dress, which may not have been accessible for the sitting. Albeit a study and not a finished work, the picture is executed with the loose and impressionistic brushwork typical of Lavery.

As the title suggests, Priscilla, Countess Annesley was a legendary beauty in her day, as evident from her portrait by society painter Philip Alexius de Laszlo (1869-1937) reproduced here. Born Priscilla Armytage Moore of Arnmore, Co Cavan, she became Countess Annesley on 2 July 1892 through her marriage to
her first cousin, Hugh, 5th Earl (1831-1908).6 He was sixty-one, she twenty six. By all accounts they were an ill matched pair. Daughter Constance, whose autobiography contains useful family details, declared, 'Why my father married my mother God alone knows' whilst of her mother, she said, 'She made a success of her marriage - outwardly, if not inwardly.' ⁷ Part of their discord appears to have stemmed from lack of common interests. Whilst the Earl loved his family seat at Castlewellan, Co Down and spent much time and effort developing the estate and gardens, to the Countess it became 'a prison'. In Constance's recollections, 'My father could never understand her desire to get away from it: to get outside its high demesne walls and walk out on the open road. Walking was her only taste of freedom. She would sometimes walk for miles - usually on the strength of letters received from the living world of London or Dublin. Letters made up her whole existence. She lived - or rather existed on the letters she received and wrote. They were the backbone of her life at Castlewellan.⁸ Another cause of disharmony was the couple's differing
natures and attitudes to life: the Earl was moody, gloomy and inward-looking, the Countess sociable and outward-going. As an antidote to her obviously stifling existence, she involved herself in good works and the cause of the poor and needy.⁹

According to Constance, the only thing her parents shared in common was remarkably good looks. 'Along with the Duchess of Leinster, my mother was counted among the most beautiful women of her day. She had been the belle of Dublin and had created something of a stir in London before she married my father.¹⁰ Her appearance - combined perhaps with her gregarious personality - resulted in a string of admirers. 'We children', Constance recalled 'christened them "the queue" . There were dozens of them - sprinkled all over the civilised globe and drawn from every class of society. I don't think my mother ever came in contact with any man but he fell in love with her - in a greater or in a lesser degree (usually the former). As the posts in our part of Ireland were extremely good, my mother would sometimes hear as often as three times a day from some member of "the queue" '.¹¹ Constance was obviously also a great admirer of her mother's looks - and perhaps not a little envious (she regarded herself as ugly). 'Her brow was low and very lovely and her hair grew beautifully from off it. Her hair was a rich auburn - the colour of copper leaves in autumn. She carried herself superbly - and when she bent her head, her movement had all the grace and suppleness of a fawn. Her eyes were a warm brown. They had the sweetest, most enchantingly human expression. They had, too, an amazing power of attraction - something very female, very potent, and entirely enslaving. Her mouth was small, like a rosebud. She had usually a very sweet expression... The most perfect thing about her was her nose; which was quite perfect.'¹² It is interesting to see how the de Laszlo portrait accords with this description.

After the Earl's death in 1908, the Countess 'fulfilled her one aim and object in life' and settled in England - 'her idea of supreme happiness.'¹³ Though little is known of her long widowhood there, she presumably satisfied the sociable side of her nature and became immersed in the society whirl. She died at Bath on 9 October 1941. It is perhaps not a little ironic that her sketch for Their Majesties' Court ... ended up in Downpatrick, not so very far from Castlewellan, the spot she had been so anxious to leave.

Dr Eileen Black is a Curator of Fine Art in the Ulster Museum, Belfast. Amongst her numerous publications are catalogues of the museum's Irish oil paintings, 1572-1900 and of the fine art collections of the Belfast Harbour Commissioners and Queen's University.

1.	Reproduced in John Lavery, The Life of a Painter (London, Toronto, Melbourne, Sydney 1940), un paginated; also in Kenneth McConkey, Sir John Lavery (Edinburgh 1993), 181. Back to text
2.	McConkey, 181. Back to text
3.	I am grateful to Elizabeth McCrum, Ulster Museum, for her useful comments on court dress. Back to text
4.	Lavery, 258; McConkey, 181. Back to text
5.	Constance Malleson [Colette O'NielJ, After Ten Year.s (London, Toronto 1931 ), 13. Back to text
6.	See Burke's Peerage and Baronetage. Hugh, 5th Earl Annesley, had two children by his marriage to Mabel Markham in 1877: Francis, 6th Earl and Mabel, a well known illustrator. His second marriage, to Priscilla Armytage Moore in 1892, produced two others, Clare and Constance. His second wife's family spelt their name 'Armytage' and not 'Armitage', as given in Burke Back to text
7.	Malleson, 13 (both quotations). Back to text
8.	Ibid., 14. Back to text
9.	Belfast News-Letter, 10 October 1941 (obituary). Back to text
10.	Malleson, 12-13. Back to text
11.	Ibid., 14-15. Back to text
12.	Ibid., 17. Back to text
13.	Ibid., 27 (both quotations). Back to text