Houston engraved a portrait of Maria after a drawing by J. St.
Liotard. This is a three-quarter length figure. Her hair is in large
plaits twined with a muslin veil on her head. The dress is open at the
throat, showing a necklace. There is a wide belt with large clasps.
Her left elbow rests on her knee. Perhaps the most satisfactory
pictures of the Beauties are those by Catharine Read, who died, in
1786; and who is chiefly known by her winsome delineations of the
graces of the Gunning girls. We could readily judge from these that
the girls were attractive. There is a genial graciousness in the face
of she of Coventry, while the Scotch duchess is possessed of a
persuasive sweetness of mien. The mob-cap frames a face almost
faultless in the regularity of its features. For all the pleasant
flavor of these facial charms, there is absent that peerless, regal
loveliness, that compelling magnificence of presence, that hauteur
which dazzles and enthrals.
The originals of these various portraits have been retained at Croome
Court, near Worcester; the seat of the Coventry family, at Inverary
Castle, Argyllshire; and at Hamilton Palace.
Three weeks after the romantic marriage of her younger sister, Maria
Gunning was married to George William, who was Lord Deerhurst--"that
grave young Lord," Walpole calls him--until 1750, when he succeeded to
the Earldom of Coventry.
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