SAMUEL COLLINS (BRITISH 1735?-1768)
Portrait of Maria Coventry, Countess of Coventry (née Gunning; 1733-1760), wearing a cream dress with embroidered bodice and jacket, lace fichu, a pearl choker and drop earrings and a headdress with veil adorning her dark upswept hair
signed S.C. and dated 1760
enamel
gilt-metal frame the reverse glazed to reveal brown silk grosgrain
oval, 4.6 cm (2 in) high

Maria was a famous Irish beauty and London society hostess during the reign of King George II. She died at a young age from lead and mercury poisoning, killed by the toxins used in her beauty regimen. She was born in Hemingford Grey, Huntingdonshire and was the eldest child of John Gunning of Castle Coote, County Roscommon and his wife Hon. Bridget Bourke, daughter of Theobald Bourke, 6th Viscount Mayo.
In late 1740 or early 1741, the Gunning family returned to John Gunning's ancestral home in Ireland, where they divided their time between their home in Roscommon, and a rented house in Dublin. In March1752, Maria married the 6th Earl of Coventry and became the Countess of Coventry. Maria's popularity and beauty was such, that on her return to London, she was mobbed when she appeared in Hyde Park and was eventually given a guard by the King, led by the Earl of Pembroke. Her husband became involved with the famous courtesan Kitty Fisher, which caused Maria much distress.