‘The Ladies of Llangollen’ by JH Lynch

Code: 54071

Date: Circa 1850

Lithograph. Scarce.  Portrait of both ladies, both full length, standing looking to right; wearing riding habits, with a small dog; standing in garden with a font in the background. Overall size in off  white mount fully conservation grade mount and back  : 35.2cms x 45.5cms.  Image size : 195mm x 290mm including text. Lettering includes facsimile signature of each of the sitters. The "Ladies of Llangollen", Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, were two upper-class Irish women whose relationship scandalised and fascinated their contemporaries during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  The pair moved to a Gothic mansion in Llangollen, North Wales, in 1780 after leaving Ireland to escape the social pressures of conventional marriages. Over the years, numerous distinguished visitors called upon them. Guests included Shelley, Byron, Wellington and Wordsworth, who wrote a sonnet about them.