Alethea Howard, Countess of Arundel.

About Alethea Howard, Countess of Arundel

Alethea Howard, 14th Baroness Talbot, 17th Baroness Strange of Blackmere, 13th Baroness Furnivall, Countess of Arundel, née Lady Alethea Talbot, was a famous patron and art collector, and one of England's first published female scientists. She was the wife of Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel with whom she built one of the most important art collections in 17th-century England. She was the youngest daughter of Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife Mary Cavendish; and the sister of two other countesses: Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke and Elizabeth Grey, Countess of Kent. She was the granddaughter of Bess of Hardwick.