Mary Fox, Baroness Holland (''née'' FitzPatrick; – 6 October 1778), known as Lady Mary Fox from 1766–74, was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat from the

Mac Giolla Phádraig dynasty ''Mac Giolla Phádraig'' (; ) is a native Irish dynastic surname which translates into English as ''"Son of the Devotee of (St.) Patrick"''. In the medieval period, the Mac Giolla Phádraigs were hereditary kings of Osraige; today, the anglici ...

and Fox family. She is best known for being the portrait subject of several notable 18th-century artists, including

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (; 14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists o ...

and Sir

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell (art critic), John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy P ...

Biography

Lady Mary FitzPatrick was the daughter of John FitzPatrick, 2nd Baron Gowran, and his wife, Lady Evelyn (''née'' Leveson-Gower; daughter of

John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower, PC (10 August 1694 – 25 December 1754) was a British Tory politician who served as Lord Privy Seal from 1742 to 1743 and again from 1744 to 1754. Leveson-Gower also served in the Parliament of Great Brita ...

). Her father was created

Earl of Upper Ossory Earl of Upper Ossory was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 5 October 1751 for John FitzPatrick, 1st Earl of Upper Ossory, John FitzPatrick, 2nd Baron Gowran, who later represented Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency), Bedfo ...

in 1751 and died in 1758. She was the sister of

John FitzPatrick, 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory John FitzPatrick, 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory FRS DL ( – 13 February 1818), styled Lord Gowran from 1751–8, was an Anglo-Irish peer, soldier, and member of parliament. Early life Hon. John FitzPatrick was born in 1745 at his family's home ...

; the Hon. General

Richard FitzPatrick General Richard FitzPatrick (24 January 174825 April 1813), styled The Honourable from birth, was an Anglo-Irish soldier, wit, poet, and Whig politician. He sat in the British House of Commons for 39 years from 1774 to 1813 and was a "sworn br ...

Chief Secretary for Ireland The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British Dublin Castle administration, administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretar ...

(who also served twice as

Secretary at War The secretary at war was a political position in the English and later British government, with some responsibility over the administration and organization of the Army, but not over military policy. The Secretary at War ran the War Office. Aft ...

); and Lady Louisa, wife of Prime Minister

Lord Shelburne William Petty Fitzmaurice, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne (2 May 17377 May 1805), known as the Earl of Shelburne between 1761 and 1784, by which title he is generally known to history, was an Anglo-Irish Whig statesman who was the first home secr ...

. She was the wife of Hon. Stephen Fox, whom she married on 20 April 1766. They went to Italy for their wedding tour, spending the winter of 1766–67 in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

with family and friends, and the following spring in Rome. He inherited his family titles in 1774, from which point she was styled Lady Holland, though he died just a few months later. She was described by her brother, the 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory, in the most glowing terms:

"Lady Holland was the most amiable person that ever lived. She possessed the most perfect sweetness of manners, joined to an excellent understanding; the most elegant person, but alas ! too delicate a frame. Her temper was the sweetest I was ever acquainted with, her heart the tenderest and most sincere. She was the best wife that ever lived, and in the most trying situation that can be conceived, nothing could exceed her tenderness of attention to her children."

Lord and Lady Holland had two children. Their son, the notable Whig politician Henry, 3rd Baron Holland (1773–1840), succeeded his father at just 13 months old. Their daughter, Hon. Caroline Fox (1767–1845), never married but kept close company with the Shelburnes. Her husband's parents, Henry, 1st Baron Holland of Foxley and Caroline, 1st Baroness Holland of Holland, died in the summer of 1774 and he inherited their respective titles, but died just a few months later of

dropsy Edema (American English), also spelled oedema (British English), and also known as fluid retention, swelling, dropsy and hydropsy, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. Symptoms may inclu ...

. She died of

consumption Consumption may refer to: * Eating *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically known as consumption * Consumer (food chain), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of n ...

in 1778.

In art

Lady Mary was painted by

in the winter of 1764–65 and by

in 1766-69. In 1767, during her wedding tour, she was painted by

Pompeo Batoni Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (25 January 1708 – 4 February 1787) was an Italian painter who displayed a solid technical knowledge in his portrait work and in his numerous Allegory, allegorical and mythological pictures. The high number of foreign vis ...

in Rome, though her portrait was apparently unfinished until 1769, when it was finally sent to England. Her portrait by Batoni, which depicts her in a grey silk Brunswick gown trimmed with striped ribbons, is considered one of his masterpieces. While in Rome, she also met Piranesi, who 11 years later dedicated a plate to her in his 1778 collection of engravings, ''Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcofagi, tripodi, lvcerne ed ornamenti antichi''. Plate 12, an etching of three vases, has the inscription ''A Sua Eccellenza Miledi Maria Fox''. A miniature of Lady Mary Fox after Reynolds, painted on an oval ivory plate, is in the collection of the

Tsarskoye Selo State Museum Tsarskoye Selo (, , ) was the town containing a former residence of the Russian House of Romanov, imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the center of Saint Petersburg. The residence now forms part of the Pushkin, Saint Peter ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. According to the museum archive, the portrait came from the collection of the

Catherine Palace The Catherine Palace (, ) is a Rococo palace in Tsarskoye Selo ( Pushkin), located south of St. Petersburg, Russia. It was the summer residence of the Russian tsars. The palace is part of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Re ...

. It was first publicised in 2018, when the artist was revealed to be English painter Edward Miles, who created the miniature during his 1772–92 apprenticeship with Reynolds. In 1797, Miles brought the miniature to the court of Saint Petersburg, apparently as an example of the quality of his work, with a letter of recommendation from the Russian Ambassador Count

Semyon Vorontsov Count Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov (or Woronzow; ; 9 July 1832) was a Russian diplomat from the aristocratic Vorontsov family. He resided in Britain for the last 47 years of his life, from 1785 until his death in 1832, during which time he was the ...

References

External links

Fitzpatrick - Mac Giolla Phádraig Clan Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holland, Mary FitzPatrick Fox, 2nd Baroness 1747 births 1778 deaths People from Mayfair

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

Daughters of Irish earls British baronesses by marriage Fox family (English aristocracy) Tuberculosis deaths in the United Kingdom