Untitled
A photographic facsimile of a three-quarter-length portrait of Mary Balfour (1818-1893). She is dressed in a white, low-necked, pleated dress with full sleeves. Mary is resting her right elbow upon a table while her right hand holds her beaded necklace. She is depicted looking to the viewer’s left. The background appears to consist of heavy fabric drapes, gold, green and blue in colour.
Mary was born in East Lothian, Scotland, the second child and second daughter of James Balfour (1773-1846) and Lady Eleanor Maitland (1790-1869). Her father James was the second son of John Balfour the fifth Laird of Balbirnie in Fife. James served as a clerk in the East India Company and later amassed a fortune by securing a contract to provide provisions to the British Navy. Mary married Henry Arthur Herbert of Muckross (No. 5) in 1837 and the couple built the present Muckross House, which was completed in 1843.
Artist Unknown