“Hamilton greatly admired Nelson, and he was unquestionably extremely fond of Emma. Instead of throwing her out and challenging Nelson to a duel, her husband remained on affectionate terms with both of them. When a wounded Nelson came to convalesce in Naples, Lady Hamilton nursed him back to health and the two fell passionately in love. Many regarded the match as shocking, but it was nothing to the scandal that followed. The blacksmith’s daughter became Lady Hamilton, an ambassador’s wife and society hostess. In 1791, Sir William Hamilton took the then Emma Hart as his mistress from his nephew and then married her when he was 61 and she was 26.

Her performances were essential viewing for visitors to Naples, including the German writer Goethe, who described her as “exceedingly beautiful”, and said she brought the ancient world to life “as if one were in some dream”. He told the Guardian he finds it hard to forgive the artist, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, for being so rude about Emma, who had been typically kind to her when Vigée Le Brun came to the Naples court as a refugee from the French Revolution.Įmma was far more famous in that circle than Vigée Le Brun, and was renowned for her “attitudes”, theatrical exhibitions of poses drawn from classical art and literature, including her husband’s famous collection of Greek vases. The portrait has been in private collections since it was completed, and has not been exhibited in the UK for almost half a century.Ĭolville, like many men before him, has fallen heavily for Emma, the blacksmith’s daughter who became an aristocratic diplomat’s wife and the mistress of one of the most famous men of the day.

Emma Hamilton by Quintin Colville