Venus Attired by the Three Graces

Anne Killigrew (1660-1685)

Oil on canvas

44 x 37 1/3 inches; 112 x 95 cm

Provenance:

The artist’s brother, Admiral Henry Killigrew; His sale, December 1727; Collection of Mr Stenhouse, Folkestone, Kent by 1915; Private Collection

Literature:

‘Vertue Note Books’, Volume II, Walpole Society Volume XX, 1931-2, pp4 & 58 C. H. Collins Baker, Burlington Magazine, Vol. 28, no. 152 (Dec 1915) p112 & 114 illus.; Carol Barash, ‘English Women’s Poetry, 1649-1714: Politics, Community and Linguistic Authority’ (Oxford 1996) p.157

This important painting, last recorded in 1915, is one of only three extant works by Anne Killigrew, the most celebrated female English prodigy of the seventeenth century. A poet and artist of great beauty and repute, Killigrew died of smallpox at the age of just twenty-five, prompting John Dryden, among others, to pen one of his best known homilies; “to the accomplished young Lady… excellent in the Two sister-arts of Poesy and Painting”. ‘Venus Attired by the Graces’ is the largest and most significant of Killigrew’s surviving pictures, the two others, a self-portrait [Berkeley Castle] and a portrait of James II [Royal Collection] being small full-lengths.

Recent conservation has revealed a signed work of exceptional quality, full of the many varied influences that shaped Killigrew’s brief artistic career. The overall conception of the work appears to be derived from the classical scenes of Poussin, as does the background landscape with its bright warm tones. The figures in the foreground are clearly mannerist productions with their elongated limbs, and one can see echoes equally of Italian mannerists such as Parmigianino, and the more idiosyncratic Fontainebleau school. Other details, such as the fountain on the left, are no doubt taken from the work of Sir Peter Lely. The naked figure of Venus had been over-painted with a yellow drape, probably in the early nineteenth century.

Unfortunately, little is known of Killigrew’s life, particularly her literary and artistic upbringing. A daughter of a staunchly Royalist Chaplain, and niece of the roguish playwright Thomas Killigrew, we can assume that she had access to a first class education. It was claimed after her death that she was fluent in Latin and Greek. In 1683 she is listed as being one of Mary of Modena’s six maids of honour, and given her many links to the Royal Household, it must be that she was able to study at length the Royal art collection. We can also assume, given that she appears to have sat to Sir Peter Lely [Sothebys 25th November 2004, lot 22] that she had opportunity to study that artist’s collection of Old Masters.