My wife's ancestors - Hunter - Contents

Portraits of Kitty Hunter

Portraits of Kitty Hunter (born 1740, died 1795).

Kitty Hunter, c. early 1760s.
In exotic costume. (Maybe she was an actress in something?)
"Miss Hunter", thought to be Kitty.
Note same earrings as E.F. Calze portrait.
Engraving by Richard Purcell (alias "Charles Corbutt", alias "Philip Corbutt"), after portrait by G. Wilson.
From NPG.
See larger and full size.

Kitty Hunter.
Engraving 1771 by Valentine Green, after earlier portrait by E.F. Calze (pseudonym of Edward Francis Cunningham).
From NPG.
See larger and full size.

Kitty Hunter.
Engraving 1865 by Robert B. Parkes of an earlier portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
She is holding a mask. The story is that this is an allusion to the masked ball from which she eloped with Pembroke in 1762.
Raymond Crawfurd thinks original portrait is date 1768.
From NPG.
See larger and full size.

Portrait as a boy groom

Painting, probably around 1762. Wilton House.
On left, standing, is Kitty Hunter, dressed in white as a boy.
[PP, vol.1, opposite p.32] says the two mounted figures are Sir John Floyd, 1st Baronet (cr 1816) and an unknown officer.
Another source says the two mounted figures are 10th Earl of Pembroke and John Floyd.
Painted by David Morier (died 1770).
See full size.
From John Floyd entry at britishempire.co.uk.

Kitty Hunter.
Detail from the above.

Raymond Crawfurd had a theory that this standing figure is not Kitty. He thought she might have been in the saddle and it has been painted over.
But looking at the picture in real life close-up at Wilton does not show any evidence of having been painted over. And the standing figure has a ribbon in her hair. It does look like Kitty.

Nathaniel Hone portrait

This is meant to be Kitty Hunter in 1780 (age 40). Though looks very old.
Portrait by Nathaniel Hone the Elder.
Hangs at Ickworth House.
From National Trust.
Also here and here.

This is apparently the picture in a 1908 list of portraits at Ickworth.
From p.229 of [Farrer, 1908].
"H.L." means half-length figure. "M" means medium size.
It was then unlabelled, which is interesting. How do we know it is Kitty? It looks too old to be her.

Close-up of the miniature she is holding, rotated.

"Mrs. A. Clarke" portrait

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has the following "Presumed Portrait of Mrs. A. Clarke".
They do not say who "A. Clarke" is. There is no further information about who they mean.
I wonder is it Kitty Hunter. Though I have not found any claim that it is.

"Presumed Portrait of Mrs. A. Clarke".
Portrait by Daniel Gardner.
See full size.
From Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.