Pictures of Elizabeth Craven in the Victoria and Albert Museum

There are various portrayals of Elizabeth Craven, the Georgian feminist writer, in the Victoria and Albert Museum. 
This one is an engraving based on an earlier painting done by Sir Joshua Reynolds.

It shows Elizabeth as a young mother, leaning affectionately and protectively over one of her children. It is a Madonna-like pose, but there is enough animation in the face to avoid blandness, and the chin is very determined.
      There are also several small, monochrome prints showing her in middle age, when she was married to her second husband, the Margrave of Ansbach.
Margravine of Anspach. Engraving published by Richard Phillips 1803.
This one appears to be based on a sketch, and was used in a biographical article about her that appeared in a periodical in 1803. The features, shown in three-quarter view, are very clear, and correspond fairly well with earlier portraits, as does the long neck. The expression is cheerful and good-humoured. Her hair is cut short at the front and arranged in curls around the face, in accordance with current fashions. The plumed hat is only lightly sketched in. This picture gives the impression of a drawing by a professional, and skilled, artist, perhaps some time before 1803.


 The two remaining pictures both appear to depict Elizabeth Craven in some sort of theatrical costume. The features are conventionalized and the emphasis is on her unusual dress and headwear. It is likely that they depict her in roles she performed in her private theatricals, which were well known.


 
In this engraving published by Thomas Ridley in 1801, Elizabeth is wearing a costume that is quasi-Renaissance or Tudor, and a jewelled band around her head. It may show her in one of her most celebrated roles, as Queen Margaret. 
 The fact that so many of these later portrayals were printed for periodicals or separate sale indicates how famous she was in her time, and what a lot of interest there was in her and her writings. To find out more about Elizabeth Craven, her somewhat scandal-prone life and her writings, read  
Elizabeth Craven: Writer, Feminist and European by Julia Gasper
published by Vernon Press.

https://vernonpress.com/title?id=334









23 Jun 2017 - Elizabeth Craven's fascinating life was full of travel, love-affairs and scandals but this biography, the first to appear for a century, is the only one ...




Drawing [engraving] of EC made in 1803 published by Richard Philips
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1256074/margravine-of-anspach-print-richard-phillips/


Print depicting Elizabeth Craven, Margravine of Anspach, engraved by
Thomas A. Woolnorth from a painting by Joshua Reynolds. Published in
London by Dean & Munday on 1st March 1826. Harry Beard Collection.

AND

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