Theresa Parker, Lady Boringdon ( Robinson; 1 January 1745 – 21 December 1775) was an
English
English usually refers to:
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* 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 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 ...
. 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 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 ...
.[ 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 ...
, 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 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