The Earls of Milltown lived at Russborough House, in County Wicklow, Ireland, designed by Richard Cassels for Joseph Leeson (1711-1783), 1st Earl of Milltown and built between 1741 and 1755. The first two Earls of Milltown were patrons of Batoni, Panini and Vernet in Rome and formed an important collection at Russborough, much of which was donated to the National Gallery of Ireland in 1889.

Anthony Lee painted Cecilia, Joseph Leeson’s wife, before her death in 1737. This portrait was also at Russborough and formed part of the aforementioned bequest to the National Gallery of Ireland (NGI.699). The present portrait probably depicts one of Joseph Leeson’s five sisters.

A NOTE ON THE PROVENANCE:

Sir Roy Strong, C.H., F.R.S.L. (b. 1935) is an English art historian, former museum curator, writer, broadcaster, and garden designer. He was made Director of the National Portrait Gallery aged 32, and at 38 Director of the Victoria & Albert Museum, where he stayed until 1987. Sir Roy has published extensively, and is particularly renowned for his knowledge of Elizabethan portraiture, and gardens. In 1971 he married the theatre-designer Julia Trevelyan Oman (1930-2003), and together they created the celebrated gardens at The Laskett, Much Birch, Herefordshire, which Sir Roy has recently gifted to Perennial, the Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Society.