Portrait of a Lady 1631, by Jan ...
Item Ref
8553
Oil on marouflaged panel in good quality 18th century carved and giltwood frame.
Signed with initials and dated 'Anno. 1631. JVR" upper right.
A superb portrait of a gently smiling young woman; she wears a pearl necklace, the essential accessory of the period, but modestly conceals it beneath her fine muslin. No such modesty however, for the magnificent jewellery she wears across her bosom.
Her black clothing, fashionably slashed, is of the finest quality, beautifully decorated and contrasting with the exquisite white lace spread across her shoulders. In the work of great portraitists black is never dull, its pictorial potential is fully utilised.
Black is an ideal background against which gold can stand out to dramatic effect and to contrast with the crisp white linen and lace. This extreme opposition between black and white is both austere and exciting, and is a characteristic feature of the 17th century Dutch portrait.
The theory has been put forward that the sitter is Amalia van Solms, wife of the Dutch Stadtholder (and grandmother of England's William III), who was painted many times by many different artists.
However, we consider this unlikely, as does Fred Meijer, curator at RKD, Netherlands Institute for Art History, at The Hague. 'While it is totally conceivable that Amalia van Solms sat for van Ravesteyn, I do not see any striking resemblance. Otherwise this appears to be a fully characteristic work by the artist.'
Regardless of the identity of the sitter this is a superb and sensitive portrait by a famous artist from the Netherland's Golden Age of painting.
JAN ANTHONISZ. VAN RAVESTEYN
(c. 1572-1657) was one of the most important and successful Northern Netherlandish portrait painters of the first half of the seventeenth century, and the leading portraitist of the government centre, The Hague. He was working there for the Stadholder's Court, for local patricians and for the upper classes of other cities in the Southern part of Holland and in Zeeland.
His sitters are often depicted with rich costumes in the latest fashion, intentionally alluding to their wealth and status.
His earliest signed work is the well-known tondo portrait of the young Hugo Grotius, dated 1599 (Fondation Custodia, Paris).
As early as 1604 Karel van Mander mentioned the artist as one of the most competent portraitists of his time. A large number of signed and dated works from the next decades - especially from the year 1611 - are known, including several group portraits of the Hague civic guard.
The last dated portraits are from 1641, leading to the conclusion that the painter produced little, if anything, in the last fifteen years of his life. The general style of his work is closely related to that of the Delft portraitist Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt (1567-1641), but is generally less dry and often more flattering than the latter’s.
SIZE: 28 x 24.25 inches panel size.
34.5 x 31.5 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE:
*Collection of Alfred Morrisson M.P. of Fonthill House, Tisbury, Wiltshire. (see image 10). Alfred Morrisson (1821-1887) was an outstanding collector of fine and rare items.
*Latterly in the Private Collection of a Lady.
VERSO: two Victorian printed labels bearing much information of "M & B Bartington; Est. 1836. No. 58 Wardour Street, Soho" framer and restorer.
Victorian handwritten label "Alfred Morrisson Esq. No. 106. Three quarter picture of Dutch Lady by Jan van Ravesteyn. 20/12/87".
Signed with initials and dated 'Anno. 1631. JVR" upper right.
A superb portrait of a gently smiling young woman; she wears a pearl necklace, the essential accessory of the period, but modestly conceals it beneath her fine muslin. No such modesty however, for the magnificent jewellery she wears across her bosom.
Her black clothing, fashionably slashed, is of the finest quality, beautifully decorated and contrasting with the exquisite white lace spread across her shoulders. In the work of great portraitists black is never dull, its pictorial potential is fully utilised.
Black is an ideal background against which gold can stand out to dramatic effect and to contrast with the crisp white linen and lace. This extreme opposition between black and white is both austere and exciting, and is a characteristic feature of the 17th century Dutch portrait.
The theory has been put forward that the sitter is Amalia van Solms, wife of the Dutch Stadtholder (and grandmother of England's William III), who was painted many times by many different artists.
However, we consider this unlikely, as does Fred Meijer, curator at RKD, Netherlands Institute for Art History, at The Hague. 'While it is totally conceivable that Amalia van Solms sat for van Ravesteyn, I do not see any striking resemblance. Otherwise this appears to be a fully characteristic work by the artist.'
Regardless of the identity of the sitter this is a superb and sensitive portrait by a famous artist from the Netherland's Golden Age of painting.
JAN ANTHONISZ. VAN RAVESTEYN
(c. 1572-1657) was one of the most important and successful Northern Netherlandish portrait painters of the first half of the seventeenth century, and the leading portraitist of the government centre, The Hague. He was working there for the Stadholder's Court, for local patricians and for the upper classes of other cities in the Southern part of Holland and in Zeeland.
His sitters are often depicted with rich costumes in the latest fashion, intentionally alluding to their wealth and status.
His earliest signed work is the well-known tondo portrait of the young Hugo Grotius, dated 1599 (Fondation Custodia, Paris).
As early as 1604 Karel van Mander mentioned the artist as one of the most competent portraitists of his time. A large number of signed and dated works from the next decades - especially from the year 1611 - are known, including several group portraits of the Hague civic guard.
The last dated portraits are from 1641, leading to the conclusion that the painter produced little, if anything, in the last fifteen years of his life. The general style of his work is closely related to that of the Delft portraitist Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt (1567-1641), but is generally less dry and often more flattering than the latter’s.
SIZE: 28 x 24.25 inches panel size.
34.5 x 31.5 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE:
*Collection of Alfred Morrisson M.P. of Fonthill House, Tisbury, Wiltshire. (see image 10). Alfred Morrisson (1821-1887) was an outstanding collector of fine and rare items.
*Latterly in the Private Collection of a Lady.
VERSO: two Victorian printed labels bearing much information of "M & B Bartington; Est. 1836. No. 58 Wardour Street, Soho" framer and restorer.
Victorian handwritten label "Alfred Morrisson Esq. No. 106. Three quarter picture of Dutch Lady by Jan van Ravesteyn. 20/12/87".
£25,000
Portrait of a Boy in Red c.1720: ...
Item Ref
8782
Oil on canvas in a slim modern frame.
A pleasing early 18th century portrait of a good-looking youth, really little more than a boy, painted by an unknown artist who was influenced by the style of Verelst; probably one of the many intinerant painters who travelled the country painting the gentry and prosperous mercantile classes.
However, this portrait is well above average for its type, the face is sensitively painted and with a real feeling of the nature of the sitter and the detail of the sitter's expensive lace is depicted with great care. All in all a very attractive early Georgian portrait.
JOHN VERELST (active 1698-1734) was born in England, of Netherlandish stock. His father was Harman Verelst, a portrait painter who came to England in 1683, part of the famous family of artists....Pieter, Harman, another Pieter, John, Maria, Simon and Willem.
SIZE: 48.5 x 36 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE: A Private Collection of a Leicestershire family for over 70 years,the painting cleaned and relined whilst in their possession.
A pleasing early 18th century portrait of a good-looking youth, really little more than a boy, painted by an unknown artist who was influenced by the style of Verelst; probably one of the many intinerant painters who travelled the country painting the gentry and prosperous mercantile classes.
However, this portrait is well above average for its type, the face is sensitively painted and with a real feeling of the nature of the sitter and the detail of the sitter's expensive lace is depicted with great care. All in all a very attractive early Georgian portrait.
JOHN VERELST (active 1698-1734) was born in England, of Netherlandish stock. His father was Harman Verelst, a portrait painter who came to England in 1683, part of the famous family of artists....Pieter, Harman, another Pieter, John, Maria, Simon and Willem.
SIZE: 48.5 x 36 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE: A Private Collection of a Leicestershire family for over 70 years,the painting cleaned and relined whilst in their possession.
£4,850
Portrait of Marjorie McInnes 1921 by Cowan ...
Item Ref
8735
Oil on canvas board in a glazed modern gilt frame.
Signed and dated.
A charming portrait of Marjorie McInnies,a pretty young girl, painted in 1921, when she was four, by David Cowan Dobson.
MARJORIE MARY MCINNES OBE, (1917-2015) Marjorie was the daughter of Robert and Nettie McInnes. She had an older sister, Eileen, and a younger brother, Roy. They were born into a wealthy timber merchant family which fell upon hard times in the late 1920s. Her father died when she was ten. While she began her education at Craigholme School she completed it through a bursary at Hutcheson Girls Grammar School in 1934.
Initially she found work in a publishing house, and on leaving that got a job as a bank clerk. Her teenage years were beset by illnesses which she finally overcame.
Marjorie obtained the Diploma in Social Services from Glasgow University in 1939, there being no degree course at that time, and proceeded to train as an almoner (later called medical social worker) at the Institute of Almoners in London. She qualified in 1940. Her first posts were in 1941-42 working as an almoner at Hull Royal Infirmary, Stafford Royal Infirmary and as a caseworker at Greenock Social Services Council. These were all locum posts.
For a brief period in 1942-43 she worked in Southport, but on hearing that her brother, who was in the RAF, had been killed over France she returned to Scotland. From November 1943 to May 1948 Marjorie was almoner at Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride. She was exempt from war service as this hospital had a military wing but she was active as a volunteer in civil defence.
One of Marjorie’s great achievements was the work she undertook between the years 1949-52 as one of the social work representatives on the Cope Report, set up to establish a register for all medical auxiliaries. Marjorie and her colleague objected vehemently to almoners being included as auxiliaries and were finally successful in the establishment of social work as a separate profession.
During the years 1948-1953 Marjorie held the post of Head Almoner at the Victoria Infirmary in Glasgow and from 1954-57 was Head Almoner at Western Infirmary, Glasgow. During this period she also had a part-time teaching post in the University Department of Public Health and Social Medicine.
In 1969 Marjorie was appointed Deputy Chief Social Work Adviser within the Central Advisory Service of Social Work Services Group.
She held this post with great distinction and was held in the highest regard by all her ?colleagues throughout the Scottish Office.
Her retirement at the age of 61 in 1978 was the commencement of a new career serving within the Scottish voluntary sector. She contributed another two decades of guidance and oversight to many major Scottish charities. It was the recognition of her work as Convener of the Scottish Council on Disability which led to her being honoured by the Queen in the New Year’s Honours List for 1982.
Marjorie’s Christian faith enriched everything she did and achieved. She was a lifelong member of Adelaide Place Baptist Church – where she served as Deacon and subsequently Honorary Deacon – and also the wider denomination of the Baptist Union of Scotland through the Scottish Baptist College. In 1990 she was elected President of the Union – the only woman to have achieved this position.
(Our thanks to Patricia Leary for information on Marjorie)
DAVID COWAN DOBSON (1894–1980), referred to as 'Cowan' Dobson, Associate of the Society of Royal British Artists (1919),Member of the Society of Royal British Artists (1922), Member of the Royal Society of Portrait Sainters (1963); he was a leading Scottish portrait artist who painted with bravado and style, and in this intimate portrait there is a painterly delight in the handling of the medium - the brushwork to the dress very fast and impressionistic.
SIZE:25 x 21 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE: Scottish Private Collection.
Signed and dated.
A charming portrait of Marjorie McInnies,a pretty young girl, painted in 1921, when she was four, by David Cowan Dobson.
MARJORIE MARY MCINNES OBE, (1917-2015) Marjorie was the daughter of Robert and Nettie McInnes. She had an older sister, Eileen, and a younger brother, Roy. They were born into a wealthy timber merchant family which fell upon hard times in the late 1920s. Her father died when she was ten. While she began her education at Craigholme School she completed it through a bursary at Hutcheson Girls Grammar School in 1934.
Initially she found work in a publishing house, and on leaving that got a job as a bank clerk. Her teenage years were beset by illnesses which she finally overcame.
Marjorie obtained the Diploma in Social Services from Glasgow University in 1939, there being no degree course at that time, and proceeded to train as an almoner (later called medical social worker) at the Institute of Almoners in London. She qualified in 1940. Her first posts were in 1941-42 working as an almoner at Hull Royal Infirmary, Stafford Royal Infirmary and as a caseworker at Greenock Social Services Council. These were all locum posts.
For a brief period in 1942-43 she worked in Southport, but on hearing that her brother, who was in the RAF, had been killed over France she returned to Scotland. From November 1943 to May 1948 Marjorie was almoner at Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride. She was exempt from war service as this hospital had a military wing but she was active as a volunteer in civil defence.
One of Marjorie’s great achievements was the work she undertook between the years 1949-52 as one of the social work representatives on the Cope Report, set up to establish a register for all medical auxiliaries. Marjorie and her colleague objected vehemently to almoners being included as auxiliaries and were finally successful in the establishment of social work as a separate profession.
During the years 1948-1953 Marjorie held the post of Head Almoner at the Victoria Infirmary in Glasgow and from 1954-57 was Head Almoner at Western Infirmary, Glasgow. During this period she also had a part-time teaching post in the University Department of Public Health and Social Medicine.
In 1969 Marjorie was appointed Deputy Chief Social Work Adviser within the Central Advisory Service of Social Work Services Group.
She held this post with great distinction and was held in the highest regard by all her ?colleagues throughout the Scottish Office.
Her retirement at the age of 61 in 1978 was the commencement of a new career serving within the Scottish voluntary sector. She contributed another two decades of guidance and oversight to many major Scottish charities. It was the recognition of her work as Convener of the Scottish Council on Disability which led to her being honoured by the Queen in the New Year’s Honours List for 1982.
Marjorie’s Christian faith enriched everything she did and achieved. She was a lifelong member of Adelaide Place Baptist Church – where she served as Deacon and subsequently Honorary Deacon – and also the wider denomination of the Baptist Union of Scotland through the Scottish Baptist College. In 1990 she was elected President of the Union – the only woman to have achieved this position.
(Our thanks to Patricia Leary for information on Marjorie)
DAVID COWAN DOBSON (1894–1980), referred to as 'Cowan' Dobson, Associate of the Society of Royal British Artists (1919),Member of the Society of Royal British Artists (1922), Member of the Royal Society of Portrait Sainters (1963); he was a leading Scottish portrait artist who painted with bravado and style, and in this intimate portrait there is a painterly delight in the handling of the medium - the brushwork to the dress very fast and impressionistic.
SIZE:25 x 21 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE: Scottish Private Collection.
£1,850
Portrait of Colonel Claes Piper c.1800, Circle ...
Item Ref
8839
Oil on canvas, unframed.
COLONEL COUNT CLAES PIPER (1770-1850) was the eldest son of Count Carl Gustaf Piper (1737-1803) and owner of the Scanian estates - Christinehof, Andarum, Torup, Hogestad, Baldringe and Krageholm.
The highlight of his military career was being awarded the title of one of the Kingdom Men, a rank issued by King Gustav III of Sweden after the 1772 coup in which he seized power from the government in a coup d'état, ending the Age of Liberty and venturing into a campaign to restore royal autocracy.
This portrait is after the prime version from 1800, which depicts the then 30 year old Piper in the 1794 model of the Livdrabantkarens (King's Life Guards) uniform, with the white mitre box on the left arm, which was in use until 1809.
There is a portrait of the sitter in old age in the collection at Skokloster Castle in Sweden; he ended his career as a major-general.
ANGELICA KAUFFMAN R.A. (1741—1807), in full Maria Anna Catharina Angelica Kauffman, Kauffman also spelled Kauffmann or Kaufmann, was a painter in the early Neoclassical style.
The daughter of Johann Joseph Kauffmann, a painter, Angelica was a precocious child and a talented musician and painter by her 12th year. Her early paintings were influenced by the French Rococo works of Henri Gravelot and François Boucher. In 1754 and 1763 she visited Italy, and while in Rome she was influenced by the Neoclassicism of Anton Raphael Mengs.
In England she was well received and was particularly favoured by the royal family. Sir Joshua Reynolds became a close friend, and most of the numerous portraits and self-portraits done in her English period were influenced by his style of portrait painting.
Her name is found among the signatories to the petition for the establishment of the Royal Academy, and in its first catalogue of 1769 she is listed as a member. She was one of only two women founding members.
SIZE: 30.5 x 25.75 inches. 76 x 64 cms.
PROVENANCE:
*Collection of Philip Mould O.B.E.
*Oxfordshire Private Collection.
Verso; Old handwritten inscriptions.
COLONEL COUNT CLAES PIPER (1770-1850) was the eldest son of Count Carl Gustaf Piper (1737-1803) and owner of the Scanian estates - Christinehof, Andarum, Torup, Hogestad, Baldringe and Krageholm.
The highlight of his military career was being awarded the title of one of the Kingdom Men, a rank issued by King Gustav III of Sweden after the 1772 coup in which he seized power from the government in a coup d'état, ending the Age of Liberty and venturing into a campaign to restore royal autocracy.
This portrait is after the prime version from 1800, which depicts the then 30 year old Piper in the 1794 model of the Livdrabantkarens (King's Life Guards) uniform, with the white mitre box on the left arm, which was in use until 1809.
There is a portrait of the sitter in old age in the collection at Skokloster Castle in Sweden; he ended his career as a major-general.
ANGELICA KAUFFMAN R.A. (1741—1807), in full Maria Anna Catharina Angelica Kauffman, Kauffman also spelled Kauffmann or Kaufmann, was a painter in the early Neoclassical style.
The daughter of Johann Joseph Kauffmann, a painter, Angelica was a precocious child and a talented musician and painter by her 12th year. Her early paintings were influenced by the French Rococo works of Henri Gravelot and François Boucher. In 1754 and 1763 she visited Italy, and while in Rome she was influenced by the Neoclassicism of Anton Raphael Mengs.
In England she was well received and was particularly favoured by the royal family. Sir Joshua Reynolds became a close friend, and most of the numerous portraits and self-portraits done in her English period were influenced by his style of portrait painting.
Her name is found among the signatories to the petition for the establishment of the Royal Academy, and in its first catalogue of 1769 she is listed as a member. She was one of only two women founding members.
SIZE: 30.5 x 25.75 inches. 76 x 64 cms.
PROVENANCE:
*Collection of Philip Mould O.B.E.
*Oxfordshire Private Collection.
Verso; Old handwritten inscriptions.
£4,950
Portrait of Thomas Haworth c.1713; Circle of ...
Item Ref
8996
Oil on canvas in a period carved and giltwood frame, informative label to the frame.
Probably painted for the sitter's marriage in 1713. Thomas makes sure his extremely expensive and fashionable embroidered silk waistcoat is prominently displayed. At this period a double chin and heaviness of build was considered a sign of prosperity.
Thomas Haworth was born in Hull, Yorkshire, in 1691 and in 1713 married Mary Blaydes, daughter of Benjamin Blaydes. They had a son, Benjamin, born in 1728. He married Anne Booth, daughter of John Booth in 1756.
The Haworths were an old and influential Yorkshire family of Haworth Hall, Dunswell, Hull, Yorkshire. They were timber merchants and extensive landowners, some of them Baronets.
The Blaydes and the Booths were rich and powerful merchant families who had married into the Haworths. Like the aristocracy these wealthy merchants married within their peers, always with an eye on increasing their wealth and power.
SIZE: 37 x 32 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE: Haworth Hall, then by descent in the family to a branch which settled in Oxfordshire. Deceased estate.
VERSO: Old printed label in Gothic Black Letter script with some of the above information and ' Property of Alderman John Booth of Hull.'
Probably painted for the sitter's marriage in 1713. Thomas makes sure his extremely expensive and fashionable embroidered silk waistcoat is prominently displayed. At this period a double chin and heaviness of build was considered a sign of prosperity.
Thomas Haworth was born in Hull, Yorkshire, in 1691 and in 1713 married Mary Blaydes, daughter of Benjamin Blaydes. They had a son, Benjamin, born in 1728. He married Anne Booth, daughter of John Booth in 1756.
The Haworths were an old and influential Yorkshire family of Haworth Hall, Dunswell, Hull, Yorkshire. They were timber merchants and extensive landowners, some of them Baronets.
The Blaydes and the Booths were rich and powerful merchant families who had married into the Haworths. Like the aristocracy these wealthy merchants married within their peers, always with an eye on increasing their wealth and power.
SIZE: 37 x 32 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE: Haworth Hall, then by descent in the family to a branch which settled in Oxfordshire. Deceased estate.
VERSO: Old printed label in Gothic Black Letter script with some of the above information and ' Property of Alderman John Booth of Hull.'
£4,850
Portrait of a Gentleman c.1680; Follower of ...
Item Ref
Oil on canvas within a modern, but appropriate, frame.
The sitter, depicted within a feigned oval, wears a faux Roman military tunic and cloak; this was called 'elevating the sitter' and was intended to give the portrait a timeless Classical quality.... despite his fashionable full wig and cravat. This was characteristic of the period.
He is shown as if lost in thought, not looking at the viewer, but to one side; a pose favoured by those of a poetic or sensitive disposition.
JOHN MICHAEL WRIGHT (May 1617 - July 1694) Described variously as English and Scottish, Wright trained in Edinburgh under the Scots painter George Jamesone, and acquired a considerable reputation as an artist and scholar during a long sojourn in Rome. There he was admitted to the Accademia di San Luca. He took up permanent residence in England from 1656, and served as Court Painter before and after the English Restoration. A convert to Roman Catholicism, he was a favourite of the restored Stuart court, a client of both Charles II and James II. In the final years of the Stuart monarchy he returned to Rome.
Wright is currently rated as one of the leading indigenous British painters of his generation. Perhaps due to the unusually cosmopolitan nature of his experience, he was favoured by patrons at the highest level of society in an age in which foreign artists were usually preferred. Wright's paintings of royalty and aristocracy are included amongst the collections of many leading galleries today.
SIZE: 34.50 x 29.25 inches including the frame.
PROVENANCE: English Private Collection
The sitter, depicted within a feigned oval, wears a faux Roman military tunic and cloak; this was called 'elevating the sitter' and was intended to give the portrait a timeless Classical quality.... despite his fashionable full wig and cravat. This was characteristic of the period.
He is shown as if lost in thought, not looking at the viewer, but to one side; a pose favoured by those of a poetic or sensitive disposition.
JOHN MICHAEL WRIGHT (May 1617 - July 1694) Described variously as English and Scottish, Wright trained in Edinburgh under the Scots painter George Jamesone, and acquired a considerable reputation as an artist and scholar during a long sojourn in Rome. There he was admitted to the Accademia di San Luca. He took up permanent residence in England from 1656, and served as Court Painter before and after the English Restoration. A convert to Roman Catholicism, he was a favourite of the restored Stuart court, a client of both Charles II and James II. In the final years of the Stuart monarchy he returned to Rome.
Wright is currently rated as one of the leading indigenous British painters of his generation. Perhaps due to the unusually cosmopolitan nature of his experience, he was favoured by patrons at the highest level of society in an age in which foreign artists were usually preferred. Wright's paintings of royalty and aristocracy are included amongst the collections of many leading galleries today.
SIZE: 34.50 x 29.25 inches including the frame.
PROVENANCE: English Private Collection
£2,950
Portrait of a Lady and her Child ...
Item Ref
9035
Oil on canvas in the original frame.
Painted very much in the style of Lawrence, this is an enchanting double portrait with great charm and a sense of intimacy.
The skin tones are beautifully rendered and the costly jewellery depicted with with great care and accuracy. The young mother looks off to her right whilst her child, toying with a ring on the mother's hand, looks directly at us from across the centuries.
GEORGE HENRY HARLOW (1787-1819), was a highly-regarded English portrait painter.
He was born in St. James's Street, London, on 10 June 1787 and was for a short time at Westminster School, but having shown a predilection for painting, he was placed under Henry De Cort, the landscape-painter. He next worked under Samuel Drummond, A.R.A., the portrait-painter, but after about a year entered the studio of Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A.
Harlow determined to devote himself to painting, he remained for about eighteen months in Lawrence's studio, copying his pictures, and occasionally drawing preliminary portions of Lawrence's own productions. A difference about Harlow's work for one of Lawrence's pictures led to a breach with Lawrence.
Young, headstrong, and impatient of restraint, with a handsome person and amiable disposition, he was generally popular in society. He worked, however, with industry and enthusiasm in his art.
He exhibited for the first time at the Academy in 1804, sending a portrait of Dr. Thornton. In later years he exhibited many other portraits; his portraits are well conceived, and, though much in the manner and style of Lawrence, have a character of their own. His portraits of ladies were always graceful and pleasing.
In 1818 Harlow visited Italy for the purpose of studying the old masters. At Rome his personal gifts and accomplishments made him the hero of the day. He was elected a member for merit of the Academy of St. Luke at Rome, a most unusual distinction for an English artist, and was invited to paint his own portrait for the Uffizi gallery of painters at Florence. His artistic progress in Italy was remarkable, but on his return to England on 13 Jan. 1819 he was seized with a glandular affection of the throat, which proved fatal on 4 Feb.
He was in his thirty-second year. He was buried under the altar of St. James's, Piccadilly, and his funeral was attended by the eminent artists of the day.
Many of his portraits have been engraved, and those of James Northcote, Fuseli, Thomas Stothard, William Beechey, John Flaxman, and others are highly esteemed. His own portrait, painted by himself for the gallery at Florence, was engraved for Ranalli's Imperiale e Reale Galleria di Firenze.
SIZE: 42 x 35.5 inches including frame.
PROVENANCE: London Private Collection.
Verso: old labels for James Bourlet (storage) and the name of a previous owner and her Holland Park address in London (c.1950)
Painted very much in the style of Lawrence, this is an enchanting double portrait with great charm and a sense of intimacy.
The skin tones are beautifully rendered and the costly jewellery depicted with with great care and accuracy. The young mother looks off to her right whilst her child, toying with a ring on the mother's hand, looks directly at us from across the centuries.
GEORGE HENRY HARLOW (1787-1819), was a highly-regarded English portrait painter.
He was born in St. James's Street, London, on 10 June 1787 and was for a short time at Westminster School, but having shown a predilection for painting, he was placed under Henry De Cort, the landscape-painter. He next worked under Samuel Drummond, A.R.A., the portrait-painter, but after about a year entered the studio of Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A.
Harlow determined to devote himself to painting, he remained for about eighteen months in Lawrence's studio, copying his pictures, and occasionally drawing preliminary portions of Lawrence's own productions. A difference about Harlow's work for one of Lawrence's pictures led to a breach with Lawrence.
Young, headstrong, and impatient of restraint, with a handsome person and amiable disposition, he was generally popular in society. He worked, however, with industry and enthusiasm in his art.
He exhibited for the first time at the Academy in 1804, sending a portrait of Dr. Thornton. In later years he exhibited many other portraits; his portraits are well conceived, and, though much in the manner and style of Lawrence, have a character of their own. His portraits of ladies were always graceful and pleasing.
In 1818 Harlow visited Italy for the purpose of studying the old masters. At Rome his personal gifts and accomplishments made him the hero of the day. He was elected a member for merit of the Academy of St. Luke at Rome, a most unusual distinction for an English artist, and was invited to paint his own portrait for the Uffizi gallery of painters at Florence. His artistic progress in Italy was remarkable, but on his return to England on 13 Jan. 1819 he was seized with a glandular affection of the throat, which proved fatal on 4 Feb.
He was in his thirty-second year. He was buried under the altar of St. James's, Piccadilly, and his funeral was attended by the eminent artists of the day.
Many of his portraits have been engraved, and those of James Northcote, Fuseli, Thomas Stothard, William Beechey, John Flaxman, and others are highly esteemed. His own portrait, painted by himself for the gallery at Florence, was engraved for Ranalli's Imperiale e Reale Galleria di Firenze.
SIZE: 42 x 35.5 inches including frame.
PROVENANCE: London Private Collection.
Verso: old labels for James Bourlet (storage) and the name of a previous owner and her Holland Park address in London (c.1950)
£6,850
Portrait of the Hon. William Feilding c.1710; ...
Item Ref
9164
Oil on canvas in fine carved and giltwood period frame.
The Honourable WILLIAM FEILDING (1669-1723), of Ashtead, Surrey and Duke Street, Westminster
Born 1669, 2nd son of William Feilding, 3rd Earl of Denbigh. Educated Eton c.1680–6; Queen’s, Oxford 1686.
Feilding, who in 1704 had bought an office with a salary of £500 p.a., made a highly advantageous marriage the following year to a wealthy widow, Lady Diana, daughter of Francis Newport, 1st Earl of Bradford, with a parliamentary seat at her disposal. She had title during her lifetime to the estates of her first husband (with no surviving children to complicate matters) and thereby enjoyed the nomination of one Member at Castle Rising. Feilding obtained the seat in 1705 when a family friend chose to sit elsewhere. Although himself the younger brother of a Tory peer, Feilding was now connected with various Court Whigs among his wife’s kinsmen and her first husband’s friends. He also came into contact with Robert Walpole II, who controlled the other seat at Castle Rising, but this association was not particularly friendly, as the Howard and Walpole interests co-existed in the borough uneasily and in a constant atmosphere of mutual distrust.
In Parliament Feilding was a Whig, with leanings towards the Court. On 18 Feb. 1706 he voted with the ministry over the regency bill. He was marked as a Whig in two lists of 1708. In the same year he resigned his office of lieutenant of the yeomen of the guard. Having supported the naturalization of the Palatines in 1709, the following year he voted for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell, and on 7 Dec. 1711 he voted for the ‘No Peace without Spain’ motion. He opposed the French commerce bill on 18 June 1713 and voted against the expulsion of Richard Steele on 18 Mar. 1714. In the Worsley list he was classified as a Whig.
Feilding was appointed Clerk of the Green Cloth in 1716, most probably through the interest of his wife’s family, the Newports, both at Court and with their Shropshire ally Sir William Forester. This was a most important position, responsible for organising royal journeys and assisting in the administration and finance of the Royal Household. Feilding died at Epsom on 21 Sept. 1723 and was buried at Ashtead. ‘I regret him prodigiously’, wrote his niece, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, on hearing of his death. His wife outlived him.
{Much of this information from The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002.}
IMAGE 5 shows a studio portrait of Feilding on the right, inscribed with his name and further information. (We owned and sold this portrait in 2007.) In the centre of that image is another portrait of Fielding by Dahl (owned and sold by us in 2012), far left is this portrait, before cleaning. It was quite common for noblemen to return to their favourite artist for more portraits over the years; Studio copies were also made as gifts for relatives.
MICHAEL DAHL (1659-1743) was born in Stockholm; after studying in Paris, Rome and Frankfurt he settled in London in 1689. He soon became the best patronised portrait painter in England after Kneller. He was much employed at the Court painting many portraits; a great patron of the 1690s was the Duke of Somerset, for whom he painted the series of portraits of Court ladies known as the 'Petworth Beauties'.
His style is extremely close to Kneller but his interpretation of character is less brash and more human.
SIZE: 38 x 32.75 x 2 inches including the frame.
PROVENANCE: *Sold about 30 years ago as of William Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, attributed to Kneller.
*Derbyshire Private Collection since then, as of Duke of Marlborough.
The Honourable WILLIAM FEILDING (1669-1723), of Ashtead, Surrey and Duke Street, Westminster
Born 1669, 2nd son of William Feilding, 3rd Earl of Denbigh. Educated Eton c.1680–6; Queen’s, Oxford 1686.
Feilding, who in 1704 had bought an office with a salary of £500 p.a., made a highly advantageous marriage the following year to a wealthy widow, Lady Diana, daughter of Francis Newport, 1st Earl of Bradford, with a parliamentary seat at her disposal. She had title during her lifetime to the estates of her first husband (with no surviving children to complicate matters) and thereby enjoyed the nomination of one Member at Castle Rising. Feilding obtained the seat in 1705 when a family friend chose to sit elsewhere. Although himself the younger brother of a Tory peer, Feilding was now connected with various Court Whigs among his wife’s kinsmen and her first husband’s friends. He also came into contact with Robert Walpole II, who controlled the other seat at Castle Rising, but this association was not particularly friendly, as the Howard and Walpole interests co-existed in the borough uneasily and in a constant atmosphere of mutual distrust.
In Parliament Feilding was a Whig, with leanings towards the Court. On 18 Feb. 1706 he voted with the ministry over the regency bill. He was marked as a Whig in two lists of 1708. In the same year he resigned his office of lieutenant of the yeomen of the guard. Having supported the naturalization of the Palatines in 1709, the following year he voted for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell, and on 7 Dec. 1711 he voted for the ‘No Peace without Spain’ motion. He opposed the French commerce bill on 18 June 1713 and voted against the expulsion of Richard Steele on 18 Mar. 1714. In the Worsley list he was classified as a Whig.
Feilding was appointed Clerk of the Green Cloth in 1716, most probably through the interest of his wife’s family, the Newports, both at Court and with their Shropshire ally Sir William Forester. This was a most important position, responsible for organising royal journeys and assisting in the administration and finance of the Royal Household. Feilding died at Epsom on 21 Sept. 1723 and was buried at Ashtead. ‘I regret him prodigiously’, wrote his niece, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, on hearing of his death. His wife outlived him.
{Much of this information from The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002.}
IMAGE 5 shows a studio portrait of Feilding on the right, inscribed with his name and further information. (We owned and sold this portrait in 2007.) In the centre of that image is another portrait of Fielding by Dahl (owned and sold by us in 2012), far left is this portrait, before cleaning. It was quite common for noblemen to return to their favourite artist for more portraits over the years; Studio copies were also made as gifts for relatives.
MICHAEL DAHL (1659-1743) was born in Stockholm; after studying in Paris, Rome and Frankfurt he settled in London in 1689. He soon became the best patronised portrait painter in England after Kneller. He was much employed at the Court painting many portraits; a great patron of the 1690s was the Duke of Somerset, for whom he painted the series of portraits of Court ladies known as the 'Petworth Beauties'.
His style is extremely close to Kneller but his interpretation of character is less brash and more human.
SIZE: 38 x 32.75 x 2 inches including the frame.
PROVENANCE: *Sold about 30 years ago as of William Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, attributed to Kneller.
*Derbyshire Private Collection since then, as of Duke of Marlborough.
£7,950
Portrait of Charles Bertie III, 1723; ...
Item Ref
8987
Oil on canvas in a George III carved and gilded gadrooned frame.
Inscribed, upper left, 'Chas. Bertie Esqr; Aetatis 19, 1723./of Uffington, in the /County of Lincoln', and with the sitter's coat of arms (showing three battering rams) and motto 'VIRTUS ARIETE FORTIOR' (Virtue is stronger than a battering ram. 'Virtue' here may also be interpreted a 'valour' or 'heroism'.)
CHARLES BERTIE III, painted here in 1723 at the age of 19, He died in 1754.
The Berties are an English aristocratic family headed by the Earl of Lindsey and Abingdon. Between 1715 and 1809 the head of the family held the title Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven. Over the centuries many members of the family were highly successful soldiers and often had an involvement in politics. Unlike his grandfather and father (both called Charles) the sitter had no interest in a parliamentary career.
CHARLES D'AGAR (1669 - 1723) came to England with his Huguenot father Jacques in 1681, settling here permanently after a stay in Copenhagen by 1691. He had a good practice, numbering such people as the Duke of Buccleuch and Lord Bolingbroke among his patrons.
SIZE: 36.5 x 32.5 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE: By direct descent in the sitter's family to Montague Peregrine Albemarle Bertie, 12th Earl of Lindsay (1861-1938), and by descent to his daughter, Lady Muriel Felicia Vere Barclay-Harvey (1893-1980) of Ayton Castle, Berwickshire.
Verso: a torn inscription giving information on the sitter, and an old pencilled inscription on the stretcher 'No.32, 1st half-landing'.
A plaque on the frame misidentifies the sitter as Charles Bertie II, in fact that was his father.
Inscribed, upper left, 'Chas. Bertie Esqr; Aetatis 19, 1723./of Uffington, in the /County of Lincoln', and with the sitter's coat of arms (showing three battering rams) and motto 'VIRTUS ARIETE FORTIOR' (Virtue is stronger than a battering ram. 'Virtue' here may also be interpreted a 'valour' or 'heroism'.)
CHARLES BERTIE III, painted here in 1723 at the age of 19, He died in 1754.
The Berties are an English aristocratic family headed by the Earl of Lindsey and Abingdon. Between 1715 and 1809 the head of the family held the title Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven. Over the centuries many members of the family were highly successful soldiers and often had an involvement in politics. Unlike his grandfather and father (both called Charles) the sitter had no interest in a parliamentary career.
CHARLES D'AGAR (1669 - 1723) came to England with his Huguenot father Jacques in 1681, settling here permanently after a stay in Copenhagen by 1691. He had a good practice, numbering such people as the Duke of Buccleuch and Lord Bolingbroke among his patrons.
SIZE: 36.5 x 32.5 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE: By direct descent in the sitter's family to Montague Peregrine Albemarle Bertie, 12th Earl of Lindsay (1861-1938), and by descent to his daughter, Lady Muriel Felicia Vere Barclay-Harvey (1893-1980) of Ayton Castle, Berwickshire.
Verso: a torn inscription giving information on the sitter, and an old pencilled inscription on the stretcher 'No.32, 1st half-landing'.
A plaque on the frame misidentifies the sitter as Charles Bertie II, in fact that was his father.
£5,650
Portrait of a Young Boy and His ...
Item Ref
8932
Oil on canvas in the original giltwood frame.
An endearing naïve portrait of a child and his pet dog. The artist has managed with the human figure but depicting the dog has stretched his talent to the utmost.
A charming touch is that the sitter is wearing a pair of toy spurs; perhaps they were a new acquisition and he insisted on wearing them...they certainly feature strongly.
SIZE: 36.5 x 30.25 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE: A Kent country house.
An endearing naïve portrait of a child and his pet dog. The artist has managed with the human figure but depicting the dog has stretched his talent to the utmost.
A charming touch is that the sitter is wearing a pair of toy spurs; perhaps they were a new acquisition and he insisted on wearing them...they certainly feature strongly.
SIZE: 36.5 x 30.25 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE: A Kent country house.
£3,650
Late 18th century frame.
Item Ref
An attractive frame, probably French, late 18th century, with applied corner decorations; some small damages. Old woodworm holes, now dead, on the back. Would make a good mirror frame.
Overall size: 29 x 24 inches.
Rebate: 25 x 19.5 inches.
Sight line: 24 x 18.5 inches.
Overall size: 29 x 24 inches.
Rebate: 25 x 19.5 inches.
Sight line: 24 x 18.5 inches.
£105
Portrait of Elizabeth Ogle, Circle of Michael ...
Item Ref
9096
Oil on canvas in a fine carved and giltwood period frame c.1695.
ELIZABETH OGLE, (later Elizabeth Case), baptised 1674, was a member of a notable Lancashire gentry family of ancient origin. This portrait was very probably painted on the occasion of her marriage to Jonathon Case.
A parrot demonstrated the wealth of the sitter able to own such an exotic creature from non-European lands, and it wasn’t just the live birds that were valued, the plucked feathers of parrots were valued too.
Also...curiously...the parrot symbolised virginity. This was probably because of its association with the Virgin Mary in earlier art.
OGLE OF WHISTON. Arms: Argent, a fesse between three crescents gules.
The Ogles appear in Lancashire in the middle of the fifteenth century as stewards of the manor of Prescot. John Ogle, the earliest known, is said to have been a son of Sir Robert, first Lord Ogle, who died in 1469. Early in 1472 John Ogle of Prescot purchased lands in Rainhill from John, son and heir of Hugh Woodfall. Margaret, widow of John Ogle, and Roger their son purchased lands from John Travers, and the family continued to prosper, becoming possessors of the manors of Whiston and Halsnead, the purchaser being John Ogle.
John's son and heir Henry, born about 1586, married in 1610 Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Whitby of Chester, and had by her a numerous offspring. He died about 1649, but does not seem to have taken any part in the Civil War. Two of his sons, however, took arms on the king's side. Cuthbert, the eldest, received a commission from the Earl of Derby, but soon retired, and in 1646 took the National Covenant in London and compounded for his estates by a fine of £120. Henry his brother, holding a similar commission, took part in the defence of Lathom House.
Cuthbert died in 1670, the heir being his son Edward, whose daughter and eventual heir Elizabeth carried the manor to her husband Jonathan Case, of the Red Hazels in Huyton. About the beginning of last century the manor was held by Richard Willis of Halsnead, to whose heirs it has descended; but the hall was then in the possession of John Ashton Case, a Liverpool merchant, great-grandson of the above-named Jonathan.
MICHAEL DAHL (1659-1743) was born in Stockholm; after studying in Paris, Rome and Frankfurt he settled in London. He soon became the best patronised portrait painter in England after Kneller. He was much employed at the Court painting many portraits; a great patron of the 1690s was the Duke of Somerset, for whom he painted the series of portraits of Court ladies known as the 'Petworth Beauties'.
SIZE: 44 x 36 inches including the frame.
PROVENANCE: By descent through the family of the sitter. VERSO: old handwritten labels by Mary Radcliffe (bearing incorrect dates) and Thomas Edward Case.
ELIZABETH OGLE, (later Elizabeth Case), baptised 1674, was a member of a notable Lancashire gentry family of ancient origin. This portrait was very probably painted on the occasion of her marriage to Jonathon Case.
A parrot demonstrated the wealth of the sitter able to own such an exotic creature from non-European lands, and it wasn’t just the live birds that were valued, the plucked feathers of parrots were valued too.
Also...curiously...the parrot symbolised virginity. This was probably because of its association with the Virgin Mary in earlier art.
OGLE OF WHISTON. Arms: Argent, a fesse between three crescents gules.
The Ogles appear in Lancashire in the middle of the fifteenth century as stewards of the manor of Prescot. John Ogle, the earliest known, is said to have been a son of Sir Robert, first Lord Ogle, who died in 1469. Early in 1472 John Ogle of Prescot purchased lands in Rainhill from John, son and heir of Hugh Woodfall. Margaret, widow of John Ogle, and Roger their son purchased lands from John Travers, and the family continued to prosper, becoming possessors of the manors of Whiston and Halsnead, the purchaser being John Ogle.
John's son and heir Henry, born about 1586, married in 1610 Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Whitby of Chester, and had by her a numerous offspring. He died about 1649, but does not seem to have taken any part in the Civil War. Two of his sons, however, took arms on the king's side. Cuthbert, the eldest, received a commission from the Earl of Derby, but soon retired, and in 1646 took the National Covenant in London and compounded for his estates by a fine of £120. Henry his brother, holding a similar commission, took part in the defence of Lathom House.
Cuthbert died in 1670, the heir being his son Edward, whose daughter and eventual heir Elizabeth carried the manor to her husband Jonathan Case, of the Red Hazels in Huyton. About the beginning of last century the manor was held by Richard Willis of Halsnead, to whose heirs it has descended; but the hall was then in the possession of John Ashton Case, a Liverpool merchant, great-grandson of the above-named Jonathan.
MICHAEL DAHL (1659-1743) was born in Stockholm; after studying in Paris, Rome and Frankfurt he settled in London. He soon became the best patronised portrait painter in England after Kneller. He was much employed at the Court painting many portraits; a great patron of the 1690s was the Duke of Somerset, for whom he painted the series of portraits of Court ladies known as the 'Petworth Beauties'.
SIZE: 44 x 36 inches including the frame.
PROVENANCE: By descent through the family of the sitter. VERSO: old handwritten labels by Mary Radcliffe (bearing incorrect dates) and Thomas Edward Case.
£4,350
|
|
|
|