Mrs. Bunbury
Not on view
Catherine Bunbury, née Horneck, came to London from Devon as a girl, accompanying her mother and elder sister Mary after the loss of their father. Welcomed into the social circle of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the sisters were celebrated for their charm and beauty. Oliver Goldsmith nicknamed Catherine "Little Comedy" for her resemblance to the smiling figure in Reynolds painting "Garrick Between Tragedy and Comedy." In 1771, at the age of seventeen, Catherine married the gentleman artist-caricaturist Henry William Bunbury (1750-1811), her groom just twenty-one. The couple lived in small house on the grounds of Barton Hall, Suffolk (the main residence was occupied by Henry's elder brother, Sir Thomas Charles Bunbury). Hopper here portrays his sitter two decades later, by which time her husband had became equerry to the Duke of York.
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