Portrait of Countess Howe (Gainsborough)

Portrait of Countess Howe is a 1764 portrait painting by the British artist Thomas Gainsborough depicting the English aristocrat Mary, Countess Howe, the wife of the Royal Navy officer Richard Howe.^[1][2] Her husband is today best known for his later success as an admiral during the relief of the Great Siege of Gibraltar and at the Glorious First of June.^[3]

Portrait of Countess Howe
Artist	Thomas Gainsborough
Year	1764
Type	Oil on canvas, portrait painting
Dimensions	244 cm × 152.4 cm (96 in × 60.0 in)
Location	Kenwood House, London

Her husband had served in the navy from a young age and had unexpectedly inherited the title when his elder brother George was killed in action in 1758. The couple had married earlier that year and six years later were in Bath where Richard was recovering from illness, when they sat for a pair of full-length portraits by Gainsborough ^[4] Gainsborough had moved to the fashionable spa town of Bath from Suffolk and built up a successful portrait business.^[5]

The painting is in the collection of English Heritage at Kenwood House in Highgate, having been part of the Iveagh Bequest of 1829.^[6]