Nationality English Name Dorothy Countess | Other names Dorothy Boyle | |
 | ||
Born 13 September 1699 ( 1699-09-13 ) Residence Chiswick House
Burlington House
Londesborough Education William Kent
Joseph Goupy Known for Caricatures and portraits Died September 21, 1758, Chiswick House, London, United Kingdom Spouse Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington Children Charlotte Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington Parents Mary Finch, William Savile, 2nd Marquess of Halifax Siblings Lady Anne Savile, Lady Mary Savile Grandchildren William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire | ||
Lady Dorothy Savile, also known as Lady Dorothy Boyle, was the Countess of Burlington and Countess of Cork (13 September 1699 – 21 September 1758) was an 18th-century aristocrat and caricature and portrait painter. She was the wife of Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington. Several of her studies and paintings were made of her daughters. Chatsworth House, which descended through her daughter Charlotte, holds a collection of 24 of her works of art.
Contents
Like her husband, Savile had a great interest in the arts and she was a patron of David Garrick and George Frideric Handel. Savile was also one of Queen Caroline's Ladies of the Bedchamber. Savile Row, developed at the edge of the Boyle's Burlington House estate, was named for Lady Savile.
Early life
Lady Dorothy Savile was born in 1699, the daughter of William Savile, 2nd Marquess of Halifax and his second wife Mary Finch, whose father was Daniel Finch, 7th Earl of Winchilsea. Dorothy was co-heiress of her father's estate.
Dorothy's two brothers both died when they were young. She had a sister, Mary, who wed Sackville, Earl of Thanet. Dorothy also had a half-sister, Anne (married to the 3rd Earl of Ailesbury), from her father's first marriage to Elizabeth Grimston, daughter of Sir Samuel Grimston.
Marriage and children
Lady Dorothy Savile married Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington on 21 March 1721 and brought a substantial dowry and a shared interest of theatre and music to the marriage. Savile enjoyed the opera, music, and theatre and was a patron of the arts, including David Garrick and George Frideric Handel. Her favorite writer was John Gay.
Soon after their marriage, Boyle began modernising Chiswick House and its grounds. They also lived at Londesborough, East Riding of Yorkshire and in London at Burlington House.
Savile had three daughters, Dorothy (born 1724), Julianna (1727-1730), and Charlotte (born 1731). Jean-Baptiste van Loo painted a family portrait of Savile, Boyle, Dorothy, and Charlotte by 1739. It is located in Lismore Castle's Devonshire Collection.
In 1741, Dorothy Boyle married the Earl of Euston, who was brutal to her. She died of smallpox just before her eighteenth birthday in 1742. Charlotte married William, Marquess of Hartington on 28 March 1748. Charlotte had four children who inherited and passed down through their descendants Savile's artwork and correspondence that is located at Chatsworth. Charlotte died in 1754.
Boyle died on 3 December 1753 and Savile on 21 September 1758. They both died at Chiswick House.
Artist
Savile studied how to draw and paint portraits with pastels with William Kent and made copies of good portraits to develop her talent. Kent, who lived with Savile and Boyle for 30 years, studied painting in Rome and in addition to being an artist, he was a designer and landscape gardener. Kent and Savile made portraits of each other and George Vertue commented that Savile's painting of Kent was "much more like than that done by Aikman". By the mid-1720s she had also studied with Joseph Goupy. During that time she advanced from pastels to oil painting. According to Neil Jeffares and the British Museum, she may have had lessons from Charles Jervas, the King's portrait painter.
Lady Savile was a talented caricaturist and made good, though rapid, portraits. Horace Walpole said of Savile, "She drew in crayons, and succeeded admirably in likenesses; but working with too much rapidity did not do justice to her genius. She had an uncommon talent too for caricatura."
Savile made a portrait of daughter Dorothy from memory seven weeks after her death. Of the paintings at Chatsworth, the "new house" at Chiswick, 24 of the works were created by Savile. Mrs. Selwyn, Lady Isabella Finch, and Lady Fitzwalter were among the friends to have received eight of Savile's pastels that are now among the Chatsworth collection. The works in the collection include three oil paintings and pastel studies of her daughters and an oil painting of Princess Amelia. Her sketch, Woman at Harpsichord, with a Dog and a Cat, reveals an intimate scene where the woman plays a tune for her own pleasure.
She made a sketch of her friend Alexander Pope in his grotto and enjoyed making caricatures. He wrote five quatrains about her entitled On the Countess of B—— cutting paper.
Queen Caroline
Savile was one of Queen Caroline's Ladies of the Bedchamber.
Savile Row
Boyle drew up plans for a new street for townhouses. The Daily Post reported on 12 March 1733 that new buildings were about to be built on Savile Street in Mayfair, London. The Burlington Estate project was named after Lady Dorothy Savile. Savile Row was built by 1735 on freehold land known as Ten Acres belonging to a merchant tailor, William Maddox, By the late 18th century, it was a center for high-quality tailor shops.