John Norris Hewett

John Norris Hewett (c. 1745 – 22 December 1790; born John Norris Fisher; other married names Gordon and Storr) was a British female art collector and amateur artist.^[1][2]

Her parents were Robert Fisher of Sandyford, Glasgow, a member of the Royal Company of Archers,^[1] and his wife Lucy, who was daughter of Admiral John Norris and widow of Sir Gerald Aylmer, 5th Baronet.^[2] Her elder half-brother was Sir FitzGerald Aylmer, 6th Baronet.^[2] The date and location of her birth are unknown: her age at death in 1790 was given variously as 45 and 47 in contemporary sources;^[1] in her childhood her father's residence was Newhall estate in Penicuik.^[1] Also unknown is the origin of her unusual forename, though it has been suggested that it was chosen to placate her grandfather Norris, after her mother remarried against his wishes.^[1]

John Norris Fisher married three times. In 1764 she married John Gordon  of Ballintaggart, Aghaderg,^[3] a Captain in the 50th Foot,^[1] who divorced her in 1773 for adultery with Captain (later Admiral) John Storr of the Royal Navy,^[2] whom she married later the same year, acquiring from him a house in Bedford Square and a life interest in a number of Yorkshire estates.^[1] Soon after Storr's death she married John Hewett, né Thornhagh [wikidata], MP for Nottinghamshire and former High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire.^[1][4] Norris Hewett died at home in Richmond, London.^[1] Thanks to an ambiguity in her will, her heirs took up litigation against each another, settling it in 1791.^[1]

Two posthumous sales of her art collection were held by Christie's in 1792.^[1] Among the works available were pieces by Hubert Robert, John Russell, and Johann Christoph Dietzsch [de], as well as a large number of pieces by her own hand.^[1] These were largely copies, after such painters as Angelika Kauffmann, Joshua Reynolds, Guido Reni, William Peters, and Russell.^[1] Their medium is unknown, though it is suspected many may have been pastels. None are known to survive, save potentially one, a copy of The Resurrection of a Pious Family by Peters, which was bequeathed to St. Andrew Warde  and turned up at auction in 2015 with no attribution.^[1]