The Allure of the Grand Tour: Sir Godfrey Webster by Louis Gauffier

Trustee of the Friends of Kenwood House, London, Helen Payne, gives an online talk on the portrait of Sir Godfrey Webster, Bt. by Louis Gauffier (1762 - 1801) which was acquired for Kenwood House, London and Battle Abbey in 1999.
Sir Godfrey Webster (1748 - 1800) married Elizabeth Vassall when she was 15. He was 23 years older than her. The Websters travelled to Europe on the Grand Tour in 1791 and Louis Gauffier’s portrait of Webster was painted in Florence in 1794. Gauffier also painted Elizabeth Webster twice, by which time she had embarked on a scandalous affair with the young Henry Richard Fox, 3rd Baron Holland, who she was later to marry. Helen Payne examines the international society of travellers and diplomats who passed through Italy in the late 18th century, and relates what is known about the gifted Louis Gauffier, a pupil of David, his short life, and his fellow French emigré painters in Italy during the years of the French Revolution.
Helen Payne has been actively involved with Kenwood for several years and has an MA in French and an MA in art history.
Introduction and fade out music: Mozart’s Don Giovanni, first performed in 1787.
Produced by Friends of Kenwood
www.friendsofkenwood.org.uk