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  • image P145
SM P145. ©Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Photo: Art UK

Maria Cosway (1759 - 1838)

A Persian lady worshipping the rising sun

1784

Oil on canvas

Height: 61cm, sight size
Width: 73.7cm, sight size

Museum number: P145

Provenance help-art-provenance

A letter from Maria Cosway to John Soane (Soane Archive) dated April 27, 1822 explains that she had presented this painting to the Dowager Lady Lyttelton as a token of friendship; Lady Lyttelton then bequeathed it back to the artist in her Will; Maria Cosway then 'placed it with' her friend Mrs. George Hardinge; on her death 'the Persian came to me again' and was then given to Soane by the artist as a token of friendship (in 1822).

Literature

Soane, Description, 1830, p.15 and 38
Soane, Description, 1835, p. 20
A.T. Bolton, Portrait of Sir John Soane, 1927, p. 335
New Description, 2007, p. 31

Exhibition history

Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1784


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