Louisa Baring, Lady Ashburton
The Lady Ashburton | |
---|---|
Personal details | |
Born | Louisa Caroline Stewart-Mackenzie 5 March 1827 Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotland |
Died | 2 February 1903 Knightsbridge, London, England | (aged 75)
Spouse | |
Relations | William Compton, 6th Marquess of Northampton (grandson) |
Children | Mary Compton, Marchioness of Northampton |
Parent(s) | Mary Mackenzie James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie |
Louisa Caroline Baring, Lady Ashburton (née Stewart-Mackenzie; 5 March 1827 – 2 February 1903) was a Scottish art collector and philanthropist who had close connections with several artistic and literary figures of the period.
Early life
Louisa Caroline Stewart-Mackenzie was born on 5 March 1827 at Seaforth Lodge,
Of fiery temper, insatiable restlessness, and socially ambitious, she collected paintings and important friends with an almost manic need. In her youth, Louisa studied drawing with John Ruskin, who saw her as a romantic young girl, with a desperate desire to marry.[1] Among her notable friends were Robert Browning, to whom she at one time unsuccessfully proposed marriage,[1][2] Thomas Carlyle, Edwin Landseer, whose attentions she rejected,[4] Florence Nightingale and Pauline, Lady Trevelyan.[1]
Art collection
Lady Ashburton was known for amassing a large collection of art works and distributing them among her residences at Seaforth Lodge, Melchet Court in
Personal life
On 17 November 1858 Louisa married the widowed Bingham Baring, 2nd Baron Ashburton (1799–1864),[1][6] a member of the Baring family of merchants and bankers. His first wife, Lady Harriet Mary Montagu (eldest daughter of George Montagu, 6th Earl of Sandwich), had died the previous year.[7] Lord Ashburton and Louisa were the parents of Mary Florence Baring (1860–1902),[8] who was named after Florence Nightingale,[9] who was a close friend of Louisa.[4] Mary married William Compton, 5th Marquess of Northampton, in 1884, becoming the Marchioness of Northampton.[10][11]
After a year of ill health, Lord Ashburton died in 1864.[1] Lady Ashburton subsequently had an intimate relationship with the American sculptor Harriet Hosmer,[12][13] whose studio she first came to in the spring of 1867.[12] Hosmer recalled being immediately smitten by Lady Ashburton's "statuesque beauty" and compared her to a goddess, writing, "There was the same square-cut and grandiose features, whose classic beauty was humanized by a pair of keen dark eyes."[14] Lady Ashburton ordered several pieces of Hosmer's work and soon became a patron.[15][16] The relationship changed from friendship to romance in the spring of 1868 when the two took a trip to Perugia, Italy.[17]
The apparent exclusivity Harriet longed for was threatened by several relationships Louisa had, notably by an approximately three-year involvement with the poet Robert Browning, and by a complicated relationship she had with her daughter's tutor, Margaret Trotter.[18][19] And no matter how much Harriet liked to consider herself Louisa's "hubby",[20] she, too, had occasional extra-relational involvements.[21]
Philanthropy
In later life, Lady Ashburton funded a number of buildings with a Christian or social welfare function, including in 1899 Landford Wood Mission Hall, in the village of Landford on the edge of her Melchet Court estate.[22]
Death and legacy
Lady Ashburton died of breast cancer on 2 February 1903, aged 75, at Kent House, Rutland Gardens,
Her papers, along with those of other members of the Ashburton family have been deposited at the National Library of Scotland. Due to her extensive correspondence with other notable figures, the archive is an important historic collection.[24]
References
Citations
- ^ required.)
- ^ a b Clifford, Edward (7 February 1903). "The Late Lady Ashburton". The Spectator. London, England. p. 15. Archived from the original on 20 July 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
- required.)
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8386-3792-0.
- ^ "ART TREASURES SOLD.; Famous Ashburton Collection About to be Dispersed, It Is Said". The New York Times. 16 October 1907. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
- required.)
- ^ "Harriet, Lady Ashburton". The New York Times. 6 July 1873. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-8386-3792-0. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
- ^ Sherwood 1991, p. 266.
- ^ McDonald 2006, p. 710.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Vicinus 2004, p. 49.
- ^ Culkin 2010, pp. 102–103, 270–273.
- ^ Sherwood 1991, p. 265.
- ^ Culkin 2010, p. 117.
- ^ Vicinus 2004, pp. 50, 53–54.
- ^ Culkin 2010, p. 118.
- ^ Culkin 2010, pp. 118–119.
- ^ Vicinus 2004, pp. 54.
- ^ Fryd 2006, p. 306.
- ^ Culkin 2010, p. 119.
- ^ Gibson, Gemma (17 November 2020). "Hall with 'outstanding historic interest' granted protection with new status". Salisbury Journal. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
- ^ Greenacombe, John. "Survey of London: Volume 45, Knightsbridge. Originally published by London County Council, London, 2000". British History Online. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- ^ "Inventory: Ashburton Papers" (PDF). National Library of Scotland. Edinburgh, Scotland. 1996. Acc.11388. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
Bibliography
- Surtees, Virginia (1984). The Ludovisi goddess : the life of Louisa Lady Ashburton. Salisbury, Wiltshire: M. Russell. ISBN 978-0859551052.
- Culkin, Kate (2010). Harriet Hosmer: A Cultural Biography. Amherst, Massachusetts: ISBN 978-1-55849-839-6.
- Fryd, Vivien Green (June 2006). "The "Ghosting" of Incest and Female Relations in Harriet Hosmer's "Beatrice Cenci"". The Art Bulletin. 88 (2). New York, New York: S2CID 190701517.
- McDonald, Lynn (2006). Florence Nightingale on Women, Medicine, Midwifery and Prostitution: Collected Works of Florence Nightingale. Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. ISBN 978-0-88920-916-9.
- Sherwood, Dolly (1991). Harriet Hosmer, American sculptor, 1830-1908. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press. ISBN 978-0-8262-0766-1.
- Vicinus, Martha (2004). Intimate Friends: Women Who Loved Women, 1778-1928. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-85563-9.