A portrait of Lady Matilda Maxwell (1802-1857) by an unknown artist.
Lady Matilda was the second daughter of Thomas Bruce (1766-1841), 7th Earl of Elgin. Her father was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1799 to 1803 and is remembered for removing marble friezes (now known as the Elgin Marbles) from the Parthenon in Athens and bringing them to Britain. Elgin lost his nose after being afflicted by the plague and divorced his young wife (Lady Matilda's mother) in 1808, after she had an affair.
Lady Matilda married Sir John Maxwell (1791-1865) the 8th Baronet of Pollok in 1839. The couple had no children and after Sir John's death their nephew William Stirling Maxwell (1818-1878) inherited.
Reference: PC 179
Reproduced with the permission of John Maxwell Macdonald
Keywords:
caps, Elgin Marbles, fashions, oil paintings, Pollok Estate, Pollok House, Pollok Park, portraits, shawls, women, wreaths