James McArdell (ca. 1729–1765) after Allan Ramsey (1713–1784)
Mary, Viscountess Coke
1762
Mezzotint
Lady Mary Coke, née Campbell, was a noblewoman, letter-writer, and controversial character. She had an unhappy, unconsummated, and litigious marriage to Edward, Viscount Coke, who left her a widow at the age of 26. Thereafter Lady Coke’s life was occupied with gossip, court intrigue, travel and a fanatical devotion to royalty. One contemporary described her “understanding” as “smothered under so much pride, self-conceit, prejudice, obstinacy, and violence of temper, that you knew not where to look for it.”
In this portrait Lady Coke poses with a theorbo, a seventeenth-century instrument that had been more popular in Italy than in England. This particular theorbo belonged not to Lady Coke but to one of her musical friends, Lady Ancram. After borrowing it from Lady Ancram in the hopes of learning how to play it, Lady Coke refused to give it back to its owner despite receiving letters in four different languages requesting its return.
YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ART, PAUL MELLON COLLECTION
B1970.3.615