Portrait of Penelope Tierney, later Mrs. Stephen Weston by Thomas Beach 1778

Thomas Beach 1738 (Milton Abbas)-1806 (Dorchester)

Penelope Tierney, later Mrs. Stephen Weston (1758-1789)

Signed and dated 1778

Oil on canvas, in a period carved frame

Penelope Tierney was the youngest daughter of James Tierney, a commissioner of accounts, of Cleeve Hill, Mangotsfield, Gloucestershire. 

In 1784 she married the Rev. Stephen Weston FRS, FSA (1747-1830) an antiquary and classical scholar.  He was born in Exeter, the eldest son of Stephen Weston (d. 1750), registrar of Exeter diocese, and Elizabeth Oxenham of South Tawton, Devon. Stephen Weston (1665–1742), bishop of Exeter, was his grandfather.  He attended Blundell's School, Tiverton, and in 1759 entered Eton College, where he remained until 1763. He matriculated from Exeter College, Oxford, on 7 June 1764 and lived in college from 4 July 1764 to 7 July 1768.  He graduated BA on 29 January 1768, MA on 14 November 1770, and BD on 2 May 1782, and was a Devonshire fellow from 1768 to 1784.  In 1771 Weston accompanied Sir Charles Warwick Bampfylde of Devon as his tutor in a long tour of the continent.  As a result of this tour he conceived a passion for travel and a particular love for France and, especially, for Paris.

On 29 March 1777, thanks to the nomination of Lord Lisburne, Weston was admitted to the rectory of Mamhead in Devon. In 1784 he gave up his fellowship at Exeter College on marrying Penelope.  Sadly she died of consumption aged thirty-one at Caen in Normandy late in 1789 or early in 1790. 

[Information from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]

Thomas Beach studied with Reynolds 1760-62 and then moved to Bath.  He developed the routine of leaving his home in Bath in June on tour and effectively working as an itinerant portrait painter of the nobility and gentry in the southern counties. 

Provenance:

• Frank Falkner Esq., Hillside, Bourdon, Cheshire (first half of 20th century)
   
• Christie's, 26 March 1976, Lot 66

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Price on application

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

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