Portrait of Mrs. Fitzherbert 1786

Curator: Immediately, I feel this quiet melancholy, a wistful tenderness. The monochrome palette certainly contributes. Editor: Indeed. We're looking at Richard Cosway's "Portrait of Mrs. Fitzherbert," currently housed at the Harvard Art Museums. Consider her position as a commoner who secretly married the Prince of Wales, defying societal norms. Curator: Ah, that explains the sadness! She's caught between worlds, isn't she? The formal garden setting, the elegant attire... all a carefully constructed performance. I wonder what she was truly thinking. Editor: Precisely. The portrait becomes a site of resistance, subtly challenging the patriarchal structures that sought to confine her. Her gaze almost dares us to look closer, to question the narrative. Curator: Well, I'm certainly questioning my assumptions now. Cosway captured something beyond mere likeness, a whole story of defiance and vulnerability. Editor: And that's precisely why these glimpses into the past resonate so powerfully today. They invite us to reimagine history through the lens of lived experience.