# Portrait of Martha Seymer as Modesty

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/cotes-francis-rc2afeec384d5e9/portrait-of-martha-seymer-as-modesty-r9252dc6c28022a>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [COTES, Francis](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/cotes-francis-rc2afeec384d5e9>)
- Date: 1751-1800
- Technique: Oil on canvas, 76 x 64 cm

## Commentary

The pose of the sitter is taken from the Venus Pudica which has its origin in classical times and which was used in the Renaissance. The pose seems to have had a renewed popularity in the period 1755-65, and was used, inter aliis, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Beech, and Thomas Gainsborough.

## Related artworks

- [Charlotte Walpole, afterwards Countess Dysart](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/cotes-francis-rc2afeec384d5e9/charlotte-walpole-afterwards-countess-dysart-r13a43648d3b571>)
- [Laura Louisa Walpole](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/cotes-francis-rc2afeec384d5e9/laura-louisa-walpole-r6b7f513c41493a>)
- [Portrait of a Gentleman](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/cotes-francis-rc2afeec384d5e9/portrait-of-a-gentleman-rb965e9f88767e9>)
- [Portrait of Maria Walpole](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/cotes-francis-rc2afeec384d5e9/portrait-of-maria-walpole-r0e4119966d6e24>)
- [Portrait of Sir Robert Pigot](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/cotes-francis-rc2afeec384d5e9/portrait-of-sir-robert-pigot-r464d73c8e61b08>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)