"Together with the Hertford family fortune, her money assured the family enormous wealth, a consideration which might have helped to smooth over the difficulties of her turbulent and socially unequal marriage to the future 3rd Marquess" (Wallace Collection website, catalogue entry re her miniature portrait by Cosway [1])
Wallace Collection website, catalogue entry re her miniature portrait by Cosway [2]
"The 3rd Marquess became the first great collector of the family. He acquired outstanding Dutch paintings, French furniture and Sèvres porcelain. His ambitious collecting was partly made possible by the enormous fortune that his wife brought into the family. Both George Augustus Selwyn and the 4th Duke of Queensbury left Maria Fagnani, known as Mie-Mie, their considerable fortunes because each man regarded her as his daughter. Together with the Hertford family fortune, her money assured the family enormous wealth, a consideration which might have helped to smooth over the difficulties of her turbulent and socially unequal marriage to the future 3rd Marquess." (Wallace Collection website, catalogue entry re her miniature portrait by Cosway [4])
Peter G. Summers, Hatchments in Britain, Vol.2, Norfolk and Suffolk, 1976, p.130; the correct arms of Fagnani are Azure, an eagle displayed argent (see [5])
