Theresa Parker, Lady Boringdon ( Robinson; 1 January 1745 – 21 December 1775) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

noblewoman, designer and art patron. She bought paintings by

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...

and

Angelica Kauffman Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann ( ; 30 October 1741 – 5 November 1807), usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered primarily as a history painter, K ...

and oversaw the interior design and golden age of

Saltram House Saltram House is a grade I listed George II era mansion house located in the parish of Plympton, near Plymouth in Devon, England. It was deemed by the architectural critic Pevsner to be "the most impressive country house in Devon". The ho ...

Life

Parker was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

on New Years Day, her father was the British Ambassador which accounts for her name as her godmother was

Empress Maria Theresa Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' (in her own right). ...

. Her parents were

Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham, (c. 169530 September 1770), of Newby, Yorkshire, was a British diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1727 and 1761. Early life Robinson was a younger son of Sir William Robin ...

and Frances Worsley. She married

John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon (1735 – 27 April 1788) was a British peer and Member of Parliament. Origins Parker was the eldest son of John Parker (1703–1768) of Boringdon Hall, Plympton, and Saltram House, by his wife Catherine Poulett ...

in 1769. He had succeeded his father the year before. Her new husband's interests included drinking and gambling but Theresa, her sister Alice, and her brothers Frederick and Thomas, took an interest in decorating

. Her siblings advised on the embellishment of the house via correspondence with Theresa. She is credited with making Saltram a "showpiece of South West England. The six years until Theresa's death at the age of 30 are considered Saltram's golden age.Ceri Johnson/National Trust, "Saltram", National Trust Press, 1998. The house owns ten portraits by

. Reynolds who was her friend spent two years trying to complete a profile picture of her.

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...

was commissioned in 1768 to create the saloon and the library. (The library is now the dining room.) Adam, created everything from the door handles to the huge plasterwork ceiling.

Thomas Chippendale Thomas Chippendale (1718–1779) was a cabinet-maker in London, designing furniture in the mid-Georgian, English Rococo, and Neoclassical styles. In 1754 he published a book of his designs in a trade catalogue titled ''The Gentleman and Ca ...

made the furniture and

Matthew Boulton Matthew Boulton (; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engine ...

made the four candelabras. She and her husband spent £10,000 on the saloon. She directed the design of the gardens and she had buildings built including an orangery she designed and her brother, Baron Grantham, designed in 1771 a summerhouse known as the Castle. Her brother admired her designs for an inkstand and she bought black Wedgewood and other ceramics for the house. With Reynolds assistance she bought paintings by

Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg Philip James de Loutherbourg RA (31 October 174011 March 1812), whose name is sometimes given in the French form of Philippe-Jacques, the German form of Philipp Jakob, or with the English-language epithet of the Younger, was a French-born Brit ...

George Stubbs George Stubbs (25 August 1724 – 10 July 1806) was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses. Self-trained, Stubbs learnt his skills independently from other great artists of the 18th century such as Reynolds or Gainsborough ...

and

Antonio Zucchi Antonio Pietro Francesco Zucchi (1 May 1726 – 1 December 1795) was an Italian painter and printmaker of the Neoclassic period. Life Zucchi was born in Venice, he studied under his uncle Carlo Zucchi and later Francesco Fontebasso and Jacopo ...

painted the ceilings of her new rooms. In 1775, she was pregnant when she lost the baby after a fever in September. As a result, she died of the resulting complication on 21 December. Her obituary was written by Joshua Reynolds.

Family

Her husband had married, firstly, Frances Hort in 1764. After her death, he remarried, on 18 May 1769, to Theresa. The couple had two children. Their son

John Parker, 1st Earl of Morley John Parker, 1st Earl of Morley FRS (3 May 1772 – 14 March 1840), known as 2nd Baron Boringdon from 1788 to 1815, was a British peer and politician. Origins Morley was the only son of John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon, of Boringdon Hall, P ...

(1772–1840) became Viscount Boringdon and

Earl of Morley Earl of Morley, of Morley in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for John Parker, 2nd Baron Boringdon. At the same time he was created Viscount Boringdon, of North Molton in the County o ...

in 1815, and their daughter, Theresa Parker (1775–1856), married George Villiers (1759–1827), youngest son of

Thomas Villiers, 1st Earl of Clarendon Thomas Villiers, 1st Earl of Clarendon, PC (1709 – 11 December 1786) was a British politician and diplomat from the Villiers family. Clarendon was the second son of William Villiers, 2nd Earl of Jersey, and his wife Judith Herne, daughter of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Theresa 1745 births 1775 deaths British art patrons 18th-century English nobility People from Plympton Daughters of barons Boringdon