Mrs Mary Robinson

The actress Mrs Robinson gained public notoriety as the first lover of the Prince of Wales (later to be George IV). Painted by Gainsborough in 1782, soon after she was abandoned by the prince, she is shown as fashionably dressed, with a wistful expression and a dog, a symbol of fidelity, holding a miniature of her erstwhile lover. While this example holds a subtext, portraits such as this helped to place the actresses in the fashionable world of the time, and aided in building a picture of how what they wore offstage fitted into wider society.