Portrait of Mrs Thomas Congreve (née Anna Catherine Handasyde)

Rendered in oil on canvas, the painting exhibits the lightness and decorative elegance associated with the Rococo movement. Philips employs a delicate palette of greens and earth tones, using subtle chiaroscuro to model the figures and the animal. The brushwork is smooth, allowing fine detail in the dress’s gold accents and the horse’s tack, while the atmospheric background is treated with softer, blended strokes.

Created for the Congreve family, the portrait remained in private hands before entering the National Gallery of Ireland’s collection. Its acquisition reflects the institution’s focus on British portraiture of the eighteenth century, and the painting now serves as a representative example of Philips’s work for noble patrons during his active career.