Margaret Messenger, Mrs Walter Strickland (b. 1737)

George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness 1734 – Kendal 1802). Oil painting on canvas, Margaret Messenger, Mrs Walter Strickland (b. 1737) by George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness 1734 – Kendal 1802), 1760. A three-quarter-length portrait, seated, as a shepherdess in blue silk gown. Previously identified as Cecilia Towneley (1741–1814), wife successively of Charles (1734–70; m.1762) and Jarrard (1741–95; m.1779) Strickland, this is in fact of the wife of Charles’s even shorter-lived eldest brother,Walter. Romney was paid 10 guineas for the pair of portraits of them in June 1760. It quite often happens when members of a family –like Walter and Margaret – leave no descendants, the identity of their portraits gets subsumed into those of family members with more claim to remebrance. Gilt frame. Sizergh Castle, Cumbria