AN oil painting of one of the region's most colourful historical characters has gone on display at a museum in the region.
The 18th Century portrait of Baroness Amelia Darcy by Francois-Hubert Drouais is on show at the Bowes Museum, in Barnard Castle, County Dur-ham.
Painted in Paris in 1764, the picture has been given to the museum on a long-term loan and shows the colourful and tragic baroness in her youth.
Her turbulent life saw her marry Francis Osborne, Marquis of Carmarthen, and later Duke of Leeds, in 1773.
On her father's death in 1778 she inherited the Barony of Conyers and Hornby Castle, in North Yorkshire.
But seven months later she eloped with "Mad Jack" Byron, who had been found guilty of manslaughter after a duel.
She married him after divorcing the Duke of Leeds, but died just five years later, and "Mad Jack" remarried and became the father of the famous poet, Lord Byron.
Dr Anne Allen, audience development manager at the museum, said: "Amelia Darcy had a romantic and somewhat turbulent life. We're delighted to be able to show this wonderful portrait at the museum."
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