LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF, DEAR TIME TRAVELERS:
My name is lady Elizabeth Forbes (1750-1802) and in 1770 I married Sir William Forbes, sixth baronet of Monymusk and Pitsligo. We are Scottish both and my husband is a very rich and famous banker, yet man of remarkable literary culture and great benefactor.

We were very happy together, ours was a love wedding and we had well thirteen children, although not everyone survived childhood.

In 1775, my husband commissioned a portrait of me to the English painter Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792). Do you know him? It's one of the most requested portrait right now and I'm quite honored.

For the occasion I wore a white silk robe, very fashionable at this time, and an embroidered golden sash that emphasizes my life, Turkish fashion as we like it lately. On the shoulders a pink stole that so much matches my complexion and my candid and rosy color. In my unpowdered hair, I wear bows, pearls and feathers, which match the colors as my dress, creating that vertical hairstyle so dear these years.

You want to know what they said about my portrait? The criticism was quite positive, I'll tell you. Sir Joshua Reynolds made me a woman who gets attention, in a pose that seems lifelike. I look absolutely comfortable in my environment, without any trace of arrogance or pride, amiable in everything. It is also said that there is an extraordinary magic in my look aimed at the painter, who has chosen for me sober and classic colors, giving however highlight to the preciousness of the fabrics. formal occasion garment in white color

Oh how delicious, those rosy strokes on my cheeks!