View source for Anne Coke, Viscountess Anson

{{short description|English painter and aristocrat}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = The Viscountess Anson
| image         = Thomas Barber (1771-1843), Lady Anne Margaret Coke, Viscountess Anson, circa 1815, Shugborough Estate, National Trust.jpg
| caption       = Lady Anne Margaret Coke, Viscountess Anson, circa 1815, [[Shugborough Hall|Shugborough Estate]], [[National Trust]]
| birth_name    = Ann Margaret Cooke{{efn|name="name"|Cooke or Cook is the archaic spelling of Coke, which is pronounced Cook.}}<ref name="baptism">''Norfolk, England, Transcripts of Church of England Baptism, Marriage and Burial Registers, 1600–1935''</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Smets |first1=A. A. |title=Catalogue of the private collection of Autographs  |date=1867 |page=28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_jxbAAAAQAAJ&dq=Anne+cooke,+Viscountess+Anson&pg=PA28 |access-date=1 August 2024 |language=en}}</ref>
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1779|1|25|df=y}}{{efn||name=dob}}
| birth_place   = [[Holkham Hall]], Norfolk, England
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1843|5|23|1779|1|25|df=y}}
| death_place   = London, England
| nationality   = English
| other_names   =
| occupation    = Painter
| years_active  =
| known_for     =
| notable_works =
| spouse        = [[Thomas Anson, 1st Viscount Anson]]
| children      = 13, including [[Thomas Anson, 1st Earl of Lichfield|Thomas]] and [[George Anson (British Army officer, born 1797)|George]]
| parents       = [[Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (seventh creation)|Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester of Holkham]]
}}
'''Anne Margaret Coke, Viscountess Anson''' (25 January 1779 – 23 May 1843),{{efn||name=dob}} was an English painter; the daughter of [[Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (seventh creation)|Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester of Holkham]]; and wife of [[Thomas Anson, 1st Viscount Anson]].
==Personal life==
Lady Anson was born at [[Holkham Hall]]{{r|Wright}} on 25 January 1779{{r|Martins}}{{rp|65}}{{r|Stirling}}{{rp|233}}{{efn|Author Christopher Wright and the BBC Your Paintings site states that she was born in 1778.{{r|Wright}}{{r|BBC}}|name=dob}} to Thomas Coke (who in 1834 was raised to the peerage as Earl of Leicester) and Jane Dutton. She was baptised Ann Margaret Cooke on 23 February 1779.{{efn||name="name"}}<ref name="baptism"/> Anne had an older sister, Jane, born in 1777, and a younger sister, Elizabeth, born in 1795,{{r|Martins}}{{rp|65}} one year after Anne was married. Jane was married by that time, too.{{r|Stirling}}{{rp|411}} Her mother was an abolitionist and spent her allowance on donations to the poor and theater tickets for her servants. Jane Dutton also believed in the importance of a good education for her children.{{r|Martins}}{{rp|65}}
At the age of 15, Anne Margaret Coke was married to 27-year-old Thomas Anson, 1st Viscount Anson, in September 1794. He was a [[member of parliament]], worth £22,000 ({{inflation|UK|22,000|1794|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) per year, and heir to [[Shugborough Hall|Shugborough estate]] in Staffordshire.{{r|Martins}}{{rp|67}} The [[Duke of Sussex]] said that he was a "true manly, noble, splendid fellow, possessing much of the real English character, sound sense, and although perhaps hurried away a little too much by country sports, has a great deal of good in him."{{r|Martins}}{{rp|67–68}}
According to Susanna Wade Martins, Anne was described as "thin, excitable, energetic, never quiet, constantly getting into quarrels, but always ready to help others.{{r|Martins}}{{rp|68}} Dawson Turner described her as a woman of sweet character and a pleasing personality.{{r|Martins}}{{rp|68}}
Anson gave birth to eleven children, four by the time she was 20 years of age.{{r|Martins}}{{rp|68}}
She died 23 May 1843{{r|Albemarle}} in London.{{r|Wright}} Her tomb, in Colwich, [[Surrey]], was sculpted by [[John Francis (sculptor)|John Francis]].<ref>Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis p.158</ref>
{{Further|Thomas Anson, 1st Viscount Anson}}<!--- rather than repeat the children's info--->
==Artist==
Susanna Wade Martins in ''Coke of Norfolk (1754–1842)'' states that Anne was likely taught to draw by [[Thomas Gainsborough]] in Norfolk and London. One of her paintings of a milk girl was made after one of Gainsborough's paintings. She was said to have made a painting of a nest of owls that was considered "very well done" by [[Benjamin Haydon]].{{r|Martins}}{{rp|67}} Mrs. Powys, who visited Shugborough in 1800, stated that competent works by Anson were in every room of the house, including three full-length paintings of her children. {{r|Martins}}{{rp|67}}
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px" caption="[[Shugborough Hall]], [[National Trust|National Trust Collection]]">
File:Anne Margaret Coke, Animals Sheltering in a Storm, Shugborough Hall, National Trust.jpg
File:Anne Margaret Coke, Thomas William Anson (1795–1854), Anne Margaret Anson (1796–1882), and George Anson (1797–1857), as Children , Shugborough Hall.jpg
File:Anne Margaret Coke, Elijah and the Ravens (after Teniers), Shugborough Hall, National Trust.jpg
</gallery>
* ''Animals Sheltering in a Storm'', after [[Philip James de Loutherbourg]]{{r|BBC}}
* ''[[Thomas Anson, 1st Earl of Lichfield|Thomas William Anson]] (1795–1854), Later 1st Earl of Lichfield, Anne Margaret Anson (1796–1882), Later [[Archibald Primrose, 4th Earl of Rosebery|Countess of Rosebery]], and [[George Anson (British Army officer, born 1797)|George Anson]] (1797–1857), Later Major General and Commander in Chief of India, as Children''{{r|BBC}}
* ''Elijah and the Ravens,'' after Teniers{{r|BBC}}
==Notes==
{{notelist}}
==References==
{{reflist | refs=
<ref name="Albemarle">{{cite book|author=George Thomas Keppel Earl of Albemarle|title=Fifty Years of My Life|url=https://archive.org/details/fiftyyearsmylif01albegoog|year=1876|publisher=H. Holt|page=[https://archive.org/details/fiftyyearsmylif01albegoog/page/n185 161]}}</ref>
<ref name="BBC">{{cite web | url=https://artuk.org/search/search/search/keyword:coke-viscountess-anson-anne-margaret | title=Painted by Anne Margaret Coke (Viscountess Anson)  | work=Your Paintings | publisher=BBC | accessdate=13 March 2015 }}</ref>
<ref name="Martins">{{cite book|author=Susanna Wade Martins|title=Coke of Norfolk (1754-1842): A Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qetpp0rv2xQC&q=Anne+Coke+Anson&pg=PA67|date=1 February 2010|publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd|isbn=978-1-84383-531-8}}</ref>
<ref name="Stirling">{{cite book|author=Anna Maria Wilhelmina Stirling|title=Coke of Norfolk and His Friends: The Life of Thomas William Coke, First Earl of Leicester of Holkham, Containing an Account of His Ancestry, Surroundings, Public Services & Private Friendships & Including Many Unpublished Letters from Noted Men of His Day, English & American|url=https://archive.org/details/cokeofnorfolkhis01stir|year=1908|publisher=John Lane|page=[https://archive.org/details/cokeofnorfolkhis01stir/page/411 411]}}</ref>
<ref name="Wright">{{cite book|author=Christopher Wright|title=British and Irish Paintings in Public Collections: An Index of British and Irish Oil Paintings by Artists Born Before 1870 in Public and Institutional Collections in the United Kingdom and Ireland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9XNe0mLSJQAC&pg=PA80|year=2006|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0-300-11730-2|page=80}}</ref>
<!---<ref name= >{{cite web | url= | title= | publisher= | accessdate=13 March 2015 }}</ref> --->
}}
==External links==
{{commons category-inline|Anne Margaret Coke, Viscountess Anson}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anson, Anne Margaret Coke, Viscountess of}}
[[Category:1778 births]]
[[Category:1843 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century English painters]]
[[Category:British viscountesses]]
[[Category:Daughters of British earls]]
[[Category:Anson family|Anne]]
[[Category:19th-century English women painters]]