Pope Makes Love To Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
by William Powell Frith (1819–1909)
1852
Aukland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
Early in his career, Frith specialised in depicting incidents in the lives of historical literary subjects. This painting represents Lady Mary's response to overtures by the poet Alexander Pope, then a close friend.
Frith explained this painting to viewers of the 1852 Royal Academy exhibition in the words of Lady Mary: "Her own statement, as to the origin of the quarrel, was this: That at some ill-chosen time, when she least expected what romancers call a declaration, he made such passionate love to her, that in spite of her utmost endeavours to be angry and look grave, provoked an immediate fit of laughter: from which moment he became her implacable enemy."
This image is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, via Google Arts & Culture. The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain."