Rich, red and rare: Hogarth’s lady back home after 100 years

The artist’s portrait of the Georgian era’s richest woman is part of a new London showAn independent aristocrat, Mary Edwards of Kensington was a leading figure in 18th-century London. She was also thought to be the richest woman in the world.If her name and image are not familiar now, there are two likely reasons: first, the most important portrait of Edwards is rarely loaned out for show; and second, her story – that of a wealthy Englishwoman who deliberately turned her back