Lady Diana Beauclerk

Lady Diana Beauclerk(néeLady Diana Spencer;othermarried nameDiana St John, Viscountess Bolingbroke;24 March 1734 – 1 August 1808) was an Englishnoblewomanand celebratedartist.

Early life

Beauclerk was born into the aristocratricSpencer familyas the daughter ofCharles, 3rd Duke of Marlborough(1706–1758), andthe Hon.Elizabeth Trevor(d. 1761). Her siblings wereGeorge (later4th Duke),Lord Charles Spencer, andElizabeth, Countess of Pembroke.Her great-grandmother was the formidableSarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough.^[1]She was raised atLangley Park, Buckinghamshire,where she was introduced toartat an early age.Sir Joshua Reynoldswas a family friend.

Marriages and children

Topham Beauclerk, her second husband

On 8 September 1757, she marriedFrederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke(1734–1787). From 1762 to 1768 she wasLady of the BedchambertoQueen Charlotte.She became widely known as 'Lady Di' (as did her namesake,Diana, Princess of Wales,prior to her marriage).

Lady Diana had four children by her first marriage:

George St John, 3rd Viscount Bolingbroke(5 March 1761 — 11 December 1824)
Henriette St John (1 Aug 1762 — April 1834), married in 1792 Henry Towcester
Anne (born ca. 1764, and did not survive infancy)
General Frederick St John(20 December 1765 — 19 November 1844),MP for Oxford,married Lady Mary Kerr (died 1791), the Hon. Arabella Craven (died 1819) and Caroline Parsons (died 1869).

Finding herself in a desperately unhappy marriage (unfortunately again like her namesake,Diana, Princess of Wales) to the notoriously unfaithfulViscount Bolingbroke,Lady Di overturned convention. She left her husband and maintained a secret relationship with her lover, Topham Beauclerk. In February 1768 Bolingbroke petitioned fordivorceon grounds of adultery ( "criminal conversation" ). The petition required an Act of Parliament, which was passed the next month.

Within two days, she marriedTopham Beauclerk,ofOld Windsor,Berkshire.They had three children:

Elisabeth Beauclerk (20 August 1766 – 25 March 1793),married her cousin,George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke
(Anne) Mary Day Beauclerk (29 June or 20 August 1766 – 23 July 1851), twin of Elisabeth. She famously had a long-term relationship with her own half-brotherBolingbroke,and had four sons by him. After he abandoned her, she married in 1797Franz von Jenison-Walworth(1764–1824), a Germancountof English parentage (son ofCount Francis von Jenison zu Walworth), and had legitimate issue, 2 sons (one son deceased) and four daughters. (Her descendants via her youngest daughterEmilie(or Amalie) include thePrincesofLoewenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg,and through them, other German royalty).
Charles George Beauclerk(20 January 1774 – 25 December 1846),M.P. for Richmond (1796-98),in 1799 he married Emily Charlotte Ogilvie, daughter ofEmily Mary Lennox, Duchess of Leinster,by her second husband,William Ogilvie.He is ancestor of the Beauclerks,Marquisesof Valero de Urría.

Friends

Part of astipple engraving,published byJohn Boydellin 1782, after Lady Diana's 1779 drawing of her friend and cousinGeorgiana Cavendish.

Their circle of friends includedSamuel Johnson,Georgiana Cavendish— who maintained a glittering salon —Edward Gibbon,David Garrick,Charles James Fox,James BoswellandEdmund Burke.

Fanny Burneyrecorded in her diary the feelings ofEdmund Burkeabout Lady Diana after the death of Topham Beauclerk:

From the window of the dining-parlour,Sir Joshua Reynoldsdirected us to look at a pretty white house which belonged to Lady Di. Beauclerk.
"I am extremely glad," said Mr. Burke, "to see her at last so well housed; poor woman! the bowl has long rolled in misery; I rejoice that it has now found its balance. I never, myself, so much enjoyed the sight of happiness in another, as in that woman when I first saw her after the death of her husband. It was really enlivening to behold her placed in that sweet house, released from all her cares, a thousand pounds a year at her own disposal, and — her husband was dead! Oh, it was pleasant, it was delightful to see her enjoyment of her situation!"
"But, without considering the circumstances" saidMr. Gibbon,"this may appear very strange, though, when they are fairly stated, it is perfectly rational and unavoidable." "Very true," said Mr. Burke, "if the circumstances are not considered, Lady Di. may seem highly reprehensible."
He then, addressing himself particularly to me, as the person least likely to be acquainted with the character of Mr. Beauclerk, drew it himself in strong and marked expressions, describing the misery he gave his wife, his singular ill-treatment of her, and the necessary relief the death of such a man must give.^[2]

On the other hand,James Boswellrecords thatSamuel Johnsonsaid of her (in 1773), "The woman's a whore and there's an end on't."^[3]

Artistic work

"Lady and child dancing", by Lady Diana Beauclerk

Lady Diana eventually helped to support herself by painting. She was a highly gifted artist who was able to use her scandalous reputation as an adulteress, aristocratic woman to further her career as a painter and designer. She painted portraits, illustrated plays and books, provided designs for Wedgwood's innovative pottery, and decorated rooms with murals. Championed by her close friendHorace Walpole,whose letters illuminate all aspects of her life, she was able to establish herself as an admired artist at a time when women struggled to forge careers.

Beauclerk illustrated a number of literary productions, includingHorace Walpole's tragedyThe Mysterious Mother,the English translation ofGottfried August Bürger'sLeonora(1796) andThe Fables ofJohn Dryden(1797). After 1785 she was one of a circle of women, along withEmma CreweandElizabeth Templetown(1746/7-1823), whose designs forJosiah Wedgwoodwere made intobas-reliefsonjasperornaments.

Sculpture design

Beauclerk designed the allegorical group, sculpted by John de Veere of theCoade Stone factory,to decorate the plain facade of thePelican and British Empire Life Insurance Companyat70 Lombard Streetin theCity of London.It was rescued before building demolition in 1915 and is now displayed in theHorniman Museum.^[4]

Later life, death, and legacy

Beauclerk's second husband died in 1780 and, due to restricted finances, she began to lead a more retired life. Lady Diana died in 1808 and is buried atRichmond,Surrey.

In the mid-1990s aportraitof her hung inKenwood House,Hampsteadinnorth London,with the caption: "Lady Diana Spencer, known chiefly for the unhappiness of her first marriage."

References

^burkespeerage
^"The Diary of Fanny Burney (Madame D'Arblay)"
^James Boswell,Life of Samuel Johnson;entry for 7 May 1773.
^"Exterior view of 'The Pelican', the offices of Pelican and British Empire Life Insurance Company, at 70 Lombard Street".Historic England.Retrieved22 July2021.

External links

Lady Diana Beauclerk on Artnet(6 Dec 2010)
Three children, seated in a landscape, with a basket of wild flowers(Pencil & watercolour -Christie's)
British Museum collection of 73 works

[1] urkespeerage

[2] "The Diary of Fanny Burney (Madame D'Arblay)"

[3] James Boswell,Life of Samuel Johnson;entry for 7 May 1773.

[HistoricEngland-4] "Exterior view of 'The Pelican', the offices of Pelican and British Empire Life Insurance Company, at 70 Lombard Street".Historic England.Retrieved22 July2021.

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