M A L L E T T Established 1865

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M A L L E T T Gallery

An Exhibition of Sporting and Marine Paintings

141 New Bond Street, London WIY OBS Telephone: +44 (0)20 7499 7411 Fax: +44 (0)20 7495 3179

Mallett Gallery

141 New Bond Street London W I Y OBS Telephone: + 44 (0)20 7499 741: Fax: + 44 (0)20 7495 3179

James Harvey Gallery Manager

Mallett & Son (Antiques) Ltd 141 New Bond Street London W I Y OBS Telephone: + 44 (0)20 7499 7411 Fax: + 44 (0)20 7495 3179

D I R E C T O R S

Lanto Synge Managing Director The Hon Peter Dixon Paula Hunt Giles Hutchinson Smith John Smith Associate Director James Harvey Associate Director

Mallett at Bourdon House Ltd 2 Davies Street London W I Y ILJ Telephone: + 44 (0) 20 7629 2444 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7499 2670

D I R E C T O R S

Lanto Synge The Hon Peter Dixon Paula Hunt Thomas Woodham-Smith Henry Neville

Mallett Website: http://www.mallett.co.uk E-mail: antiques@mallett.co.uk

Front cover (clockwise from top left): L D Man, A Barge coming alongside the Carolina, with other Vessels in Calm Waters (page 46-47); Richard Roper, A Gentleman in Hunting Pinks with his Groom holding a Bay Hunter (page 32-33); Charles Brooking, A Galliot firing a Salute in a Calm Estuary (page 45); John Frederick Herring Senior, A Portrait of the Racehorse Memnon with William Scott Up (page 10). Back cover: Attributed to Peter Turnerelli, Horatio, Admiral Lord yelson (page 66-67). Frontispiece: George Stubbs, Mrjenison Shafto's Bay Racehorse, Squirrel, standing in a Landscape (detail) (pages 28-29).

Foreworc

For the past few years the Mallett Gallery- has p roduced catalogues that have represented the Gallery's \ 'aried areas of dealing. VVe h a \ c always had an interest in Spor t ing and Mar ine paintings hut this is our first catalogue de\'0ted solely to these two specialised fields. Th i s exhibition follows almost a year of p lanning and searching.

O n the Spor t ing side, we have a mixture of racing and hunt ing paintings. O f special note is the George Stubbs ' por t ra i t of Squirrel, painted in about 1 765, and illustrated on page 28. This handsome horse portrai t is a wonderfu l example of Stubbs ' work, and clearly shows why he is regarded as the greatest of the eighteenth century sport ing artists. We are also delighted to offer a g roup of Sartorius paintings, including the fytckleji Hunt illustrated on page 26. This is a m a j o r disco\ ery of a pa in t ing of this famous prix ate hunt club, with im ited member s only. It is an exceptional painting, not least for its historical significance, immense decoratix e c h a r m and large scale.

From the early twentieth centur \ ' we have an impor tan t and rare pai r of horse portrai ts by Sir . \ l f red Munnings , illustrated on pages 38 & 39. Munnings , pe rhaps best known for his racing scenes, was also a master of plein air pa in t ing of which this pair is an extremely good example, br inging together horse por t ra i ture and the magic of British Impressionism. It is thrilling that this c h a r m i n g pair of paintings, with such natural w a r m t h , h a \ e survived together since they were pa in ted almost a hundred years ago.

O u r selection of Mar ine paintings represent the eighteenth century particularly well. T h e L D M a n illustrated on pages 47, 48 & 49 is of par t icular interest since it is one of only a handfu l of his works that are signed, and as such it marks a corners tone f rom which more may be learned about this relatively u n d o c u m e n t e d artist. T h e portra i t of Captain William Peacock by R igaud on page 64 & 65 is also of note since not only are both the artist a n d the subject of naval significance, but the inscription of the sitter's n a m e on the pain t ing has helped identify a second version which is in the Nat ional Mar i t ime M u s e u m , Greenwich.

We hope you enjoy this catalogue and will find the opportunity ' to visit us at the Gallery in Bond Street, or at the variety of shows we at tend, to see these and other pictures which we have to offer.

We arc grateful to David Fuller of the British Spor t ing Art Trust . Roger Q i i a r m of the Nat ional Mar i t ime M u s e u m and Chr i s topher Foley of Lane Fine Art Ltd for their assistance in researching and compil ing catalogue entries.

J a m e s H a r \ ey Gallery Manager

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William Tasker 1808-1852

A Race Meeting: The Finish

Oil on caiuas 21 X 25 in / 53.5 X 63.5 cm

William Taskcr was born in CJoldcn Square, London, where his father was a journeNman cabinet-maker. The family mo\ed to Chester while William was still young, and he attended the Bluecoat School, recei\'ing nincli

encouragement in the arts. He studied drawing under Robert I^orris and was trained as a lithographer, painter and decorator.

Tasker soon took up sporting painting, and accjuired a number of patrons in Cheshire, Lancashire and Shropshire. T h e most important of these was Robert Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster, for whom he painted a ntnnber of ecjuestrian portraits and racing scenes.

It is quite likely that the meeting in this painting is at the racecourse at Chester, where Tasker was an habitue. The pink-and-white stripes worn by the second jockey are similar to those of the family of the Cheshire racehorse breeder and trainer. Sir Charles Bunburs; who was a strong supporter of racing at Chester in the earlv nineteenth century-.

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John Frederick Herring Senior 1765-1865

A Portrait of the Racehorse Memnon with William Scott Up

Bears old labels verso Oil on canvas 14'/2X 19 i n / 37 X 48 cm

Tiiis painting commemorates Memnun's win in the ( i reat St Leger Stakes at Doncaster in 1825 ridden by William Scott. T h e race was one of huge popularity: there u e r e eighty one subscribers to the race, of which thirty were at the start. In the November 1825 Annals of

Sporting the portrait of the jockey is described as 'very like and well put upon the saddle'. Memnon's victory was tremendously popular amongst the racing fraternity in \brkshire since this was a 'home-bred ' horse, owned i)y Richard Watt, a \brkshi reman, who was one of the greatest supporters of flat racing of the era and winner of the only Classic race held in the county Memnon's popularity is such that there are at least five portraits of him by Herring.

J o h n Frederick Herr ing Senior is perhaps the best known English sporting |)ainter of

the first half of the nineteenth century. His subjects are virtually all based on animal themes: portraits of horses, hunt ing scenes, farmyards, dogs and other domestic creatures are all to be found in his work. He was born in London, the son of an .American father of Dutch extraction, and took up paint ing in about 1815. By 1820. his style had developed to become notably fluid and fine. His best work dates from approximately 1820 to the mid 1840's and he has left us with an un])aralleled visual history of the English countryside in its heyday.

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Harry Hall 1814-1882

Mr Cartwright's Bay Racehorse Maurice Daly with the Jockey Boyce Up

Oil on canvas 2 7 % x 3 6 in 7 69 x 91 cm

Maurice Daly was owned and bred by Cartwright and trained by William King. He was placed second in the Grand National of 1852, and won many other steeplechases.

Hall is widely recognised as the major racehorse painter of his day after the death

of John Frederick Herr ing Senior. He worked largely at Newmarket, and has left us with the record of very many of the racehorses of the mid nineteenth century, a period of great interest in the increasing quality of thoroughbred breed and racing in liritain.

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John Wootton circa 1682-1764

A Grey Stallion held by a Groom

Signed with m o n o g r a m Oil on canvas 108 X 147 in / 274.5 X 373.5 cm

(See pages 14 and 15)

Perhaps Wootton's greatest legacy was the group of life-size paintings of horses which still ado rn the walls at Al thorp, Badmin ton and Longleat. This magnif icent picture is on the same scale and m a y have been commissioned by Charles, 3rd D u k e of Mar lborough , for Langley Park in Buckinghamshire. It has a g r andeu r that foreshadows similar life-size portrai ts of horses by George Stubbs.

T h e striking R o m a n nose of the horse suggests that it is a Barbary horse, originally f rom the wild stock indigenous to Morocco and .Algeria and characterised as a breed by flat shoulders, a rounded chest and relatively long head. British breeders had imported Eastern stallions since Tudor times but, following the Restoration, breeders began crossing the stallions with British mares more regularly to produce the English thoroughbred racehorse.

J o h n Woot ton is the most distinguished of the early English school of sport ing painters. His work was influenced by the cont inental masters Ti l lemans and Wyck, upon w h o m his early style much depends. H e is the first artist to give us a \ isual record of the early days of the hunt a n d the turf a n d his work was popular with his distinguished clientele.

Wootton was born at Snitterfield, Warwickshire, and many of his most important works are to be found in the great houses of the English midland shires. As Sir Ellis Waterhouse points out in his Dictionary of British 18th Century Painters, p 421, he was 'for fifty years the liorse painter for the aristocracy'. .Apart from his s])oiting paintings, Wootton was also one of the prime creators of the f^nglish landscape and \irtually cornered the market in his early career for batde pictures of the War of the Spanish Succession.

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John Wootton circa 1682-1764 a n d

Ben Marshall 1768-1835

Greville, a Chestnut Thoroughbred held by a Liveried Groom

Signed and inscribed Greville hy B. Marshall Landscape (^ figures by [ I ootton Oil on can\ as 4 0 x 50 in / 102 x 127 cm In original giltwood f r a m e

Th i s pa in t ing is surely unique, be ing painted by two ol" the best sport ing artists of tlieir respective generations, but who are separated in t ime by the best pa r t of a cen tury The paint ing started life in about 1730 as a horse portrai t , possibly of Hying Childers, by J o h n Wootton. T h e background , landscape and figures are still those ])ainted by Woot ton , but at some point [circa 1800) Marshal l has pa in ted in ano ther thoroughbred of much finer conformat ion over the top of the earlier horse. W h a t we see now represents the best of both painters: the free and effortless brushwork of Woot ton , together with the bold delineation and vibrant colour of Marshal l .

Thomas Stringer of Knutsford 1772-1790

Beauty, a Dappled Grey standing in a [jindscape

Signed a n d inscr ibed o n s tone tablet Portrait of Beauty, aged tenyrs; the Property of Wtn. Davenport Esq. painted in 1782 by T.S.

Oil on canvas

34 x 4 7 i n / 8 6 . 5 X 119 c m

PROVENANCE

By descent in the D a v e n p o r t f a m i h '

T h i s work was commiss ioned by Wil l iam

D a v e n p o r t of B r a m h a l l Hal l , Chesh i re , in

1745. D a v e n p o r t succeeded his fa the r at the

age of four in 1749 a n d wen t on to be H igh

Sheri f f of C h e s h i r e in 1781. H e d ied at

B r a m h a l l in 1829.

Unt i l recently, m u c h of St r inger ' s work has

b e e n c o n f u s e d with tha t of Francis Sar tor ius

as m a n y of his pa in t ings a re s igned with the

m o n o g r a m T S , which has been wrong ly

i n t e rp re t ed as FS. In 1881, howex'cr, a

m a n u s c r i p t by Wil l iam Ford, a M a n c h e s t e r

bookseller, was pub l i shed in the N o v e m b e r

issue of The Palatine Note-Booii u n d e r the title

of ' T h e S t r inger Family^ Fa ther a n d Sons, of

K n u t s f o r d ' . T h i s art icle records that I h o m a s

S t r inger showed grea t ta lent in his you th as

a n a n i m a l painter , bu t was employed as a

s e r \ a n t by Peter L e g h of Booths Hall ,

Knu t s fo rd . Af te r a q u a r r e l wi th his employer ,

he left to b e c o m e a ful l - t ime artist a n d was

' m u c h e n c o u r a g e d by the n e i g h b o u r i n g •

gentry, especial!)- for his por t ra i t s of horses,

in which he evinced u n c o m m o n skill.'

T h e r e a re pa in t ings by S t r inger in m a n ) ' old

houses in Lancash i r e a n d Chesh i re ,

inc lud ing D u n h a m Massey (Nat ional Trust)

a n d Peover Hal l . His work c a n also be f o u n d

in the C h e s t e r M u s e u m a n d in the Me l lon

Col lec t ion at Yale.

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Sawrey Gilpin, RA 1733-1807

Henry Walton 1746-1813 and

George Barret 1728-1784

A Grey and A Bay Hunter with a Spaniel and a Pointer; a Groom with a Feeding Tray approaching

Signed .V. Ciilpin and dated 1 779 Oil on ean\ as 30 X 46 in / 76 X 11 7 cm

S A W R E Y G I L F I N

Savvrey Gilpin was born in Cariisle on 31st October 1733 and has been described as 'an animal painter of super kind'. His talent as an animal painter was encouraged from a young age, and in 1 747 he was sent to London where he entered the studio of Samuel Scott. It was during this period of apprenticeship that he obser\ed tlie horses coming to Co\ent Garden market and that he began painting animals. His ajjprenticeship with Scott lasted until 1758, when he left the studio to pursue iiis own career under tlie patronage of the Duke of Cumberland.

Sir Ellis Waterhouse, in his book The Dictionary of 18th Century British Painters, writes

that Gilpin was the finest horse painter after George Stubbs and that he also possessed a mastery of landscape. He is an important link between the early English School of Wootton and Tillemans and the later painters exemplified by Ferneley and Herring. Gilpin exhibited regularly at the Society of Artists, becoming President in I 774, and at the Roval Academy from 1786 to 1807, where he was voted an a.s.sociate member in 1 795 and a full member in 1797. He was popular with his fellow Royal Academists, with whom he frequently collaborated, adding portraits of animals to ntmierous pictures by Barret, Walton, Romney, Zofiany, Reinagle and e\en the young Turner.

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HENRY WALTON

Henry Walton was an accomplished portrait painter specialising in single portraits and com ersation pieces. He had his own private income and did not need to earn his living by painting. As a result, he chose his subjects with great care, never undertaking commissions that he did not want to paint. He exhibited at the Royal Academ\-between 1777 and 1779 and at the Society of Artists in 1776. Walton never exhibited after 1 779 so the present work, dated 1 779, indicates that this was a project of which he wished to be a part, working on it from his retirement in Suffolk.

G E O R G K H.\RRET

George Barret was born in Ireland at some time between 1728 and 1 732. O n his arrival in England in 1 763 he specialised in landscape painting. His patronage by the Dukes of Portland and Buccleuch brought him much acclaim and many coinmissions.

Barret exhibited at the Free Society in 1 764 and at the Society of Artists from 1764 to 1768, during which time he became a foundation member of the Royal Academy. By the 177()'s his style had become more picturesque and clearly shows the influence of Richard Wilson, whose work he had studied. One of his major commissions in the mid 1770's was to paint the walls of a room in Norbury Park which was jointly utidertaken with Sawrey Gilpin and Cipriani. This successful collaboration was the start of a history of Gilpin and Barret working with each other.

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John Nost Sartorius 1759-1828

The Charlton Hunt Drawing Cover

Signed and dated 1 783 Oil on cam as 16 X 23% in / 40.5 x 60 cm In original giltwood frame

John Xost Sartorius was ilic son and pupil of the s])orting painter I'rancis Sartorius, whose style is very similar to his own. i^rolilic painter of every asjiect of country life and rural sports, J X Sartorius has left us with a brilliant record of the s]3orting life of the late Georgian era. He exhibited seventy portraits

of animals and racing and hunting .scenes at the Royal Academy between 1 781 and 1824, and some of his works were published in The Sporting Magazine.

Like his father (and, to a degree, his own son John Francis Sartorius) he was itinerant, and his paintings are to be found in many country houses the length and breadth of England. He painted many sporting .scenes for peo])le he met at the Newmarket races, and his clientele numbered many of the most famous aristocratic sportsmen of his age: the Lords Derby, Foley and Kingston, the breeders and trainers Christopher

Wilson and Sir Charles Bunbury, and grandest of all, the Prince of Wales. His ])aintings are as popular today as they were in his own lifetime.

'Fhe present work dates from early in his career when his techniciue is most like that of his father. It is entirely t\pical of the slightly nai\e and charming style which the family e\oK'ecl and which has made them a faxoinite of generations of collectors of s])orting art.

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Francis Sartorius 1734-1804

Colonel Jolliffe's Hunt in Full Cry

Oil oil canvas

35V4 X 72V, in / 90 x 185 cm

P R O \ l - \ A . \ C E

The JollilTc family; J o h n Scott-Lcwis, Pangl iourne

Francis Sartorius is the best known of the dynasty of English sporting jjainters which begins with the obscure John Sartoriiis, an emigre artist from Xiiremberg in ( iermany. Francis was considerably inllnenced b) 'James

Sevmour, altliough he developed a very indi\idual style of his own and his pictures ha\ e great qualit}- der i \ed from the simjjlicity of his compositions and skilful use of colours. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1775 to 1790, showing mostly portraits of horses and dogs, including a portrait of Her Majesh>'s Coach Horses. According to his obituarv- in The Sportini^ Magazine of 1805 he was 'marr ied and co-habited with fi\e successive wives".

'l"hc ])resent ])ainting is typical of the best of the painter and illustrates a type of composit ion which was imnien.sely popular in the eighteenth century.

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Francis Sartorius 1734-1804

Members of the Pytchley Hunt Club at Covertside Signed and dated 1783 Oil on can\'as 48 X 72 in / 122 X 183.5 cm

The Pytchley Hinit CUub was founded in llie mid-eighteenth ccn tun ; hunting the southern half of the ancient Forest of Rockingham, but it was the first I-^ad Silencer (who became Master around 1765) who transformed it into the most famous name in fox hunting. He liad hunted the . \ l thorp hounds since 1 756 and joined them to the Pytchley at his own expense, e-xcejit for the £ 2 0 0 annual payment by members of the club. He mounted his

hunt servants superbly and formed a pack of hounds second to none, his stallion hounds being used by all the leading kennels.

T h e Club, based at Pytchley Hall, was limited to forty members chosen tjy ballot. T h e earliest sur\'i\ ing list dated 1 766 names twenty six members, roughK' half being local landowners. A further list dated 1777 gi\es thirty foui' names, of whom fourteen \vere members of the nobility.

T h e painting shows members wearing their distinctive white collars, amongst whom the legendary- Dick Knight is at the centre, mounted on a grey. M r Knight was the club's huntsman from 1777 until 1 79() and was renowned for his patience and his dash. It is

possible the painting was commissioned to celebrate John , the second Kari Spencer, becoming Master in 1 783 on the death of iiis father, and if so, it is likely that he is the figure moimted on the bay ijeside M r Knight.

T h e origin of the club's white collar is uncertain. A portrait of the club member Samuel Isted, painted nVra 1 780 by Opie, shows him wearing it and ( ) \ y Paget in his I/istorv of The lyichley, 1937, records that Lord Xunbur i iholme then had a painting by Sartorius, said to be of Lord .\lthor]5 wearing the collar. Lord Ahlior]5 wrote to his father from university in 1810 thanking him for ])utting him u]5 for the Pytchley Cllui) and says how pleased he would be to wear the white collar on his coal next vear.

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George Stubbs, ARA 1724-1806

Mrjenison Shafto's Bay Racehorse Squirrel standing in a iMndscape

Signed and inscribed Squirrel, Geo. Stubbs Pinxit Oil on c a m as

40 X 50 in / 101.5 x 127 cm

PROVEXAXCE

M r Greenwood , his sale, London , February 18th 1791, lot 101: 'Squirrel, a celebrated runn ing horse '

George Stubbs was the greatest of English an imal painters, a master whose work stands alone and who has had a greater influence on sporting pain t ing throughout the western world than anyone else. Born in Li \c rpool the son of a currier, at fifteen Stubbs was apprent iced to Hamle t W'instanley. H e did not remain with him for long, howe\'er, seeking instead to make a li\ ing as a portrait painter in the north of England. By the age of twenty six he was living in \ b r k where he painted and studied anatomy.

By 1 758 he had moved with his wife, M a r y Spencer, to Horks tow in Lincolnshire, where his son George Townley Stubbs was bo rn . It was here that he began one of the most impor tan t projects of his life, ob ta in ing dead horses which he slung in his studio a n d then dissected, layer by layer, mak ing detailed drawings of the muscles, the sinews and the skeleton as he went . Th i s ex t raord inary work

was ]Dublished in 1 766 and was called sim]3ly The Anatomy of the Horse.

In 1 759 Stubbs m o \ e d to London where he soon became established as a painter of note. His skills of composit ion and portrayal of animals, people and landscapes with outstanding depth and strength won him many im])ortant ]3atrons including Lord Rockingham and the Dukes of Grosx'cnor, R ichmond , Bolingbroke, Graf ton and Portland. T h e present [jainting, which can be dated to circa 17()4-l 766 on the grounds of technic|ue and style, is f rom this era.

Stubbs first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1 775, where he was ra ther looked down on by the Academicians, who categorised him as an animal ])ainter, not a resijected form of artist at that time. He is now accepted as a genius uncc(ualled in English sport ing art.

J en i son .Shafto was a l andowner a n d b reede r of racehorses in C^o. D u r h a m with a large collection of excellent spor t ing paint ings by such artists as Woot ton , Stubbs, Seymour a n d Sartorius . Sha f to is known to h a \ e worked with the G r o s \ c n o r family, which m a y have been how Stubbs first c a m e to Shaf to ' s a t tent ion . T h e Grosvenors in Clheshire commiss ioned one of the most impor t an t paint ings of his career, the magni f icent Grosvenor Hunt (in the collection of the Duke of VVe.stminster).

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William Williams fl. 1758-1797

Equestrian Portraits of Edward Parker (1730-1797) of Browsholme Hall with his favourite hunter Button and his son John, their groom and three foxhounds outside their home

(Dil o n c a m as

40 ' / 2 X 52 ' / 2 in / 103.5 X 133 c m

PROVENANCE

By family descent at Browsholmc,

Lancash i re ; to Co lone l R o b e r t Parker, by

whose agen t sold to A c k e r m a n n , L o n d o n

E X H I B I T E D

M a n c h e s t e r Cuty Art Gallery, Works of Art

from Private Collections in the J^'orth West and J^'orth

Wales, 21st S e p t e m b e r - 30 th O c t o b e r 1960,

T h i s p ic ture has \ e x e d art h is tor ians for

m a n y years. Historical ly it was re fe r red to by

the fami ly as D e \ is a n d it was wi th this

a t t r ibu t ion tha t it was exhib i ted at the

M a n c h e s t e r C i ty Ar t Gal le ry for the i r 1960

exhibi t ion Works of Art from Private Collections in the North West andJ\''orth Wales (lent by Co lone l

R o b e r t Parker) . It is p r e s u m a b l y a f t e r this

exhibi t ion tha t the Parker family sold the

p a i n t i n g to Messrs A r t h u r A c k e r m a n & Son ,

w h o sold it to the ' H o u s e h o l d In t e rna t iona l

C o r p o r a t i o n Col lec t ion ' . A r o u n d this t ime

the pa in t i ng was mysteriously re -a t t r ibu ted to

B e n j a m i n Kil l ingbeck, a n d subsequent ly

e n t e r e d into auc t ion where , d u e to its mis-

a t t r ibut ion it was left unsold .

S ince t h e n , m u c h research has b e e n d o n e

into the possibil i ty of this work b e i n g tha t of

Wi l l i am Wil l iams. Fol lowing the d iscovery

of a s igned a n d d a t e d work in a p r iva te

Engl ish col lect ion, we feel con f iden t tha t the

mys te ry s u r r o u n d i n g the a u t h o r s h i p is n o w

finally solved.

Wil l iam Wil l iams was an i t ineran t provincial

pa in t e r of por t ra i t s , ru ra l genre a n d spor t ing

subjects, whose works a r e k n o w n in most of

the M i d l a n d s a n d N o r t h w e s t e r n count ies of

E n g l a n d . T h e p resen t p a i n t i n g m a y be d a t e d

to circa 1763-1765 w h e n the artist was

r eco rded in Manches te r , the neares t city to

Browsholme. Such a da t ing is s u p p o r t e d by

the a p p a r e n t age of J o h n Parker w h o

a p p e a r s in the p ic ture to be in his early

teens. It has the closest possible technical

cor re la t ion with Wil l iams ' s igned por t ra i t of

the Elwes family of Glouces te rsh i re , d a t e d

1766, still in tha t family 's col lect ion.

T h e Parker family have li\ ed at B rowsho lme

Hal l since it was built in 1507. E d w a r d

Parker, the m a i n figure on the r ight of o u r

p ic ture was b o r n in 1730 a n d in 1750

m a r r i e d B a r b a r a , d a u g h t e r of Sir Wil l iam

F leming of Rydal Hal l , W e s t m o r e l a n d .

T h e i r first son, J o h n , was b o r n in 1751 a n d

is dep ic ted as the you th s t and ing nex t to his

father. H e was a M e m b e r of Pa r l i amen t ,

a n d d ied in 1 797.

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Richard Roper fl. 1 7 4 9 - 1 7 6 5

A Gentleman in Hunting Pinks with his Groom holding a Bay Hunter, and two Gouples of Foxhounds at the Portico of a Country House

Oil on canvas

52 .x 70 in / 132 X 178 cm

The work of Richard Roper is onK' slo\\ly

being disentangled from that o f such

contemporaries as J a m e s Seymour, T h o m a s

Spencer, V\'illiam Shaw and Francis

Sartorius. His work has an immediate charm

and is bold in execution and colour, and his

sitters are better characterised than many of

the sporting painters o f this t\pe o f subject.

Edward Edv\ ards, in his Anecdotes of Painters

who have resided or been born in England (1808)

says o f Roper that his pictures were

"sullicient to satisfy the gentlemen o f the

T u r f and Stable". In truth, his paintings

ha\'e a tremendous c\'ocati\'e charm which

is redolent o f the golden age o f coinitry

sports, and a boldness and vigour which

sets them apart from the run-of-the-mill

equestrian portraits o f his age.

The ]Drc.sent painting is on as grand a .scale

as almost anything by the artist, who

exhibited only three ])aintings at the

Society o f Artists before he disa]i]3eared

from \ iew in 1 765, the date on his last

recorded |)icture.

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Joseph Van Aken circa 1699-1749

A Sporting Conversation Piece: two gentlemen with their guns and dogs rest at the edge of a wood, a third approaches them whilst a fourth, gun in hand, walks into the wood

Painted circa 1730 Oil on canvas

2 3 V 2 x 2 8 ' / 2 i n / 6 1 x 73 c m In fine original carved wood f r ame

Joseph Van M e n is best kiiovvn as the draper%' painter to m a n y fashionable London portraitists including T h o m a s Hudson, Henry Pickering a n d .AJlan Ramsay. H e was extraordinari ly accomplished at paint ing clothes and worked with a rapidity which endeared him to his fellow artists. O n e of the reasons that good London portraits of this period are so difiicult to attribute to one artist or another lies simply in the fact that Van Aken painted a considerable proport ion of so many of them. T h e r e exists an amusing car toon depicting the funeral cortege of Van Aken which was followed by the weeping figures of London's artistic community: they are weeping not for their depar ted colleague, but for the fact that they will now have to work a great deal harder to finish their portraits!

Van Aken's early career was cen t red on Belgium, where he received a thorough g round ing in the techniques of life d rawing a n d colourat ion, facilities which he never lost. His arrival in L o n d o n (noted by Vertue) coincided with a revival in the arts in this count ry and the first blossoming of a native style in informal domest ic por t ra i ture . \ a n Aken's early paint ings here are a mixture of cont inental t echnique and a bucolic English c h a r m . T h e r e are a n u m b e r of sport ing conversations of the present t\-pe, for example the Sporting Conversation exhibi ted in the recent Manners and Morals e.xhibition at the Ta te Gal lery (from the collection of Nathan ie l Rober tson, US, \ ) which depict the rural squire enjoying his sport in the c o m p a n y of his friends.

34

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Ben Marshall 1768-1835

A Welsh Springer Spaniel Trotting in a Landscape

Signed and dated 1800 Oil on canvas 28 X 39 in / 71 X 99 cm

I . I T E R A T U R K

Aubrey Xoakes, Ben Marshall, 1978, p 32, no 34 and illustrated pi 48

Benjamin Marshall was born at Seagrave in Leicestershire. He worked initially as a schoolmaster and seems not to ha\e taken up painting until about 1790. He was introduced in the following year to William Pochin, the local Member of Parliament, who in turn introduced him to his first master, the portrait painter Lemuel Francis Abbot. Marshall's progress was rapid, and by the middle of the 1 790's he was being patronised b\' the Prince of Wales. Marshall was at his artistic peak in the years 1798 to 1818 and the paintings produced from his brush during this period rank with the very greatest works of the English School of animal painting.

This painting, with its free and \ ibrant brushwork and li\ely colouration, its precise drawing and accurately obser\'ed canine animation, is from the period of Marshall's best paintings.

37

Sir Alfred Munnings, PR.\

1878-1959

Bay Mare in a Paddock

A Mare and Foal Beside a Sunlit Wood A ])air O n e signed and dated 1912 Oil on canvas 20' / : X 24 in / 51.3 x 61 cm

Munn ings began his career with an apprent iceship to a f irm of l i thographers, whilst at the same t ime studying paint ing at evening classes. Despite losing the sight in his right eye after an accident in 1898. he was de te rmined to [saint and the following year two of his paintings were shown at the Royal Academy.

He had a lifelong fascination with paint ing

horses and his first ma jo r composit ion, A Suffolk Horse Fair, was executed in 1901. In 1910 he .spent the s u m m e r pain t ing outside, li\ ing in a cara\ an in the Ringland Hills near Norwich and produc ing a series of beautiful paintings. The enthusiasm and success which greeted this .scries led him to join the artists' colony at Xewlyn in Cornwal l the following summer, f rom wiiere it is likely that he painted the pre.sent ]iair.

38

Early in 1912 Munn ings had his own marc sent by train to him in Clorinvall. The resultant jjainting, Hunter Out to Grass, shows her in what is almost certainly the same jjacklock as tlic present jjair of paintings, and indeed she may even be tlie same mare . All three jiaintings h a \ e the same spontanei ty and directness, showing Mtmnings as a master of plein air paint ing in the tradition of (Nonstable and

Turner . His ability to express volume, space and m o \ e m e n t with a few decisive brush strokes separates h im f rom the laboured 'colour pho tog raph ' style of late \ ^c to r i an horse painting.

At the end of the First World War Munn ings exhibited his portrai t of General Seeley on Horseback to great acclaim, creat ing a new d e m a n d for his equestr ian portraits, hi

1920 he pain ted the Belvoir Hunt (now in the Paul Mellon Private Collection) which was included in a succe.ssful exhibition at the .AJpine C lub in London the following year, and in 1925 he was in\-ited b\' Qt ieen M a r y to j^aint The Ascot Procession Crossing Windsor Park (Royal Collection). H e was knighted in 1944, and for the next five years se r \ed as the President of the Royal Academy.

39

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Charles Parker ana 1828

A Still Life of Bell's Life in Ijondon and Other Sporting and Gambling Accessories

Dated 1828 Oil on cain as 21 X 26 in / 53 X 66 cm

This ]5ainting is one ol' sex'cral known versions of a sportsman's t rompe I'oeil

pa in ted by the artist C:harles Parker. This \e rs ion is similar in handling, content and conijjosition to the one in the Royal C^ollection at Sand r ingham whicli was a gift to King Edward \ ' I I dur ing his reign.

While little is known of the artist, all known \crsi()ns of the ])ainting include publicat ions dated in the later 182()"s, .so it .seems reasonable that Parker mav h a \ e been ac t i \ e

f rom as early as 1826. The S a n d r i n g h a m version is a little earlier than this one, which slun\s Belt's Life in iMndon da ted D e c e m b e r 1827, while the Annals of Sporting a n d bank notes are da ted 1828.

Full in content and rich in colour, such sport ing still lifes are not only decorative, but also historically interesting for the publications and objects that they depict.

41

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Francis Holman fl. 1729-1784

Shipping off the Coast

Signed and dated 1775 Oil on canvas laid on panel 29'A. X 47 ' / . in / 75 x 120 cm

Francis H o l m a n was b o r n in L o n d o n a n d bapt ised in 1729, but relatively little is known abou t h im. H e was t ra ined as an hera ldic a n d decorat ive pa in te r in the 1 750's a n d died a prosperous m a n in 1784.

H o l m a n exhibi ted some ambi t ious shipping pieces at the Free Society of

Artists be tween 1767 a n d 1772 a n d at the Royal A c a d e m y be tween 1767 and 1 784 (a total of seventeen pictures). H e was a reasonably prolific artist a n d his best known pupil is T h o m a s Luny, whose early work is very like that of Holman ' s . His work encompasses all aspects of m a r i n e pain t ings but he is best known for his ship por t ra i tu re .

T h e main ship in this pa in t ing is a 24 gun Royal Xavy 6th ra te of the 1750's, shown twice, Hying the j ack f rom the foremast . T h e o the r vessel, also shown twice, appea r s to be a small me rchan t , p robably a pink n a m e d Antonetta.

44

Li

Charles Brooking 1723-1759

A Galliot firing a Salute in a Calm Estuary

Oil on canvas 27 X 45'A. in / 68.5 x 115 cm In original c a r \ r d and gilded f rame

P R O V E . X A N C i :

Lawrenny House Collection, Pembrokesiiire

Little is known of the background of Char les Brooking, a l though it has frequently been asserted that his father was a house painter working at Dept ford and Greenwich. W'e know, howe\'er, that Brooking was

pain t ing mar ine subjects f rom a very early age since there are at least t\\'0 extant examples inscribed 'C . Brooking pinxit aged 17 years' . He was profoundly influenced by W'illem \ a n De \ e l d e the Younger, the great Dutch mar ine painter who died in 1 707, and indeed Brooking's work was frecjuenth- passed off as \ a n De Velde's dur ing his lifetime.

Brooking was ne\'er a prolific painter, a l though man\ ' of his works were e n g r a \ e d in the 18th century by such distinguished engravers as Ravenet , Cano t and Boydell and they enjoyed considerable commercia l success and po|iularity. Perhaps the most f amous of his mar ine paintings is The Alexander in Action

with the Sole Bay off the Isle de Rhe, notable for its high aerial perspect i \e and the exce|)tionally fine rendit ion of the ships.

Brooking's contemporar ies describe him as of 'sickK- appearance", and his tragicalK' early death at thirty six robbed us of the greatest native bo rn mar ine painter of the 18th century. T h e pre.sent painting, with its acute obser \a t ion and accurate draughtsmanshi]) perfectly captures the m o o d of a hot calm st immer's day and is the work of a great jjainter at the height of his powers. It is prex-iously unrecorded and has been in the .same family collection for generat ions until now.

45

LD Man fl. circa 1707-1725

A Barge coming alongside the Carolina, with other Vessels in Calm Waters

Signed Oil on cam-as

24'/2X 30% i n / 6 1 . 5 x 7 6 . 8 cm

PROVEXANXE Ar thur Tooth & Sons, London , 1943

L D M a n is an impor t an t f igure in early m a r i n e pa in t ing in Eng land . It is only recently, t h rough the extensive research of the mar i t ime a u t h o r FB Cocket t , tha t his work has b e c o m e m o r e d o c u m e n t e d a n d individual pieces have been able to be ei ther fully ascr ibed or a t t r ibuted to his catalogue. T h e e m e r g e n c e of this signed example is a n o t h e r link in p iec ing toge ther the ca ree r of a relatively obscure artist working at a t ime of immense naval deve lopment .

M a n was almost certainly Dutch , and it is probable that he had under taken some formal training f rom one of the more established artists such as A b r a h a m Storck or possibly L Backhuysen. T h e ships that he painted and the change of the ensign to the union flag would date M a n to working in England over the period 1701-1720. (The Act of Un ion with Scodand had been signed in 1707 which had brought the smaller Scots X a \ 7 alongside the larger English fleet.) T h e period of 1706 to 1718 saw very little naval action and the major i ty of the fleet was in h o m e waters, being based a round the dockyard in Deptford. It is believed that M a n m a y have been employed in the dockyards and that he painted the \'essels he saw around him, ra ther than being a j o u r n e y m a n artist.

T h e t ime of his arrival in Eng land ties in with the dea th of Van de Velde the younger in 1707 which would suggest that M a n had little or no contact within the Van de Velde studio, including the par t that carr ied on af ter his death . M a n ' s work has a distinctive and un ique style a n d unlike the famil iar tonal ranges of the Van de Velde a n d M o n a m y studios, he a d o p t e d a cooler a n d harsher palet te in which he favoured steel blue seas contras t ing with grey pink tones in the sky. His fo rmal composi t ion a n d s t ructure was also a depa r tu re f rom the studios of the day and this pa in t ing illustrates his detai led style, in the numerous figures por t rayed in busy activity and the elaborately carved a n d gilded work on the vessel. In fact, Man ' s representa t ion of this decora t ion is so exceptionally sophist icated that it is belie\ ed he may have been employed by the king as one of the c raf t smen working on the ship's gilding.

In 1706 there was an a t tempt to s tandardise the dimensions, if not the designs, of the larger warships. T h e title of "yacht' c ame f rom the Dutch w h o presented the first English example to the restored King Charles II in 1660. Originally the purpose of a yacht was for scouting, but in the early days of their introduct ion to England they were used as despatch vessels for t ranspor t ing impor tan t people a n d for the sport of racing. Most of the British yachts were used as royal yachts a l though some lesser ones were used by Commiss ioners of the Na^y, the Viceroy of I re land and the Governor of the Isle of Wight. In this paint ing we see a barge coming alongside the Carolina (rebuilt as the Royal Caroline in 1 733) with a t rumpe te r on the top deck announc ing her arrival.

46

47

48

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50

Thomas Whitcombe circa 1752-1824

HA I Corvette iMurel off Table Mountain, South Africa

Signed and dated 1808 Oil on canvas 35 X 58 in / 89 x 147 cm

I'ROVKNANOE Acquired f rom the Parker Gallery, circa 1960, and then in the same private collection in South . \ f r ica .

T h o m a s W h i t c o m b e was the leading painter of the French Re \o lu t iona ry wars a n d pain ted o\ er one h u n d r e d and fifty actions of the English fleet including lifty plates for The Xaval Achievements of Great Britain, a splendid volume issued after the cessation of hostilities. T h e quar te t of mar ine painters to w h o m we owe so much for the \'isual documenta t ion of this d ramat ic per iod of histor\' (Pocock, Luny, D o d d and Whitcombe) between them produced some exceptional work of the highest s tandard, a great deal of which is to be found in the Nat ional Mar i t ime M u s e u m , Greenwich , and in na\ al collections a round the world.

T h e present [jaintiiig may justifiably be described as one of the finest productions of a talented artist. His ship portrai ture included many of the ships of the line and the a rmed merchan tmen of the East India C o m p a n y

T h e iMurel was one of the fast g roup of cor \e t tes which were used for long distance patrols a round Africa and the Indies, and she is por t rayed here in the Bay of Table Moun ta in , South . \ f r ica . Built by Bools and ( i ood of Bridport a n d classed as a \essel of 22 guns of Henslow design, siie was ordered on J a n u a r y 3()th 1805. her keel was laid in J u n e 1805, and she was launched on 2nd J u n e 1806. She was in French hands f rom 1808 to 1810 and was r enamed Laiirestinns. She was wrecked in 1813, just seven years after her launch.

51

Thomas Whitcombe circa 1752-1824

An Indiaman in Two Positions off the Island of Ascension

Indistinctly signed

Oil on can\as

41'Ax 64 in / 105 X 162.5 cm

In original carwd and gilded frame

The present painting is compositionally

wholly tvpical of the artist, although it is

conceivcd on a much grander scale than is

usual for him. It may thus he numbered

amongst his most substantial commissions.

This type of ship fast, armed, hugely

seaworthy and cajsable of sailing closer to

the wind than many of its contemporaries

- was the backbone of British trade with

the Indian subcontinent which so enriched

England in the eighteenth century It is

depicted olf the coast of the Island of

Ascension in the South Atlantic, then, as

now; an important na\ al staging post and

the site of a coixsiderable British garrison.

It was one of the few .safe ports of call for

fresh water and supplies on the long and

dangerous journey to India

mjuL m

Robert Cleveley 1747-1809

A Scene from the Battle of Cape St Vincent, 1797: HMS Victory (Capt. Horatio Nelson) engaging the Salvator Del Mundo, with the Britannia (Sir Charles Thompson) beyond

Inscribed Evan Nepean Oil on canvas 3 4 % x 5 r / 2 i n / 8 7 x 131 cm In original gilt frame

PROVKXAXCE Commissioned in 1800 by Sir E\ an Xepean, Bt, Secretary of the Admiralty, and given by him to the widow of Sir Charles Thompson (1740-1 799), Captain of the Britannia and Second in Command at the Battle of Cape St Vincent (under Admiral Sir John Jer\'is); By descent to Lady Thompson's grand-daughter, by whom given to Vice-Admiral PVancis Kirby on his retirement from the Na\-\' in 1911, and by whose widow gi\ en in 1950 to:

Sir William .Andrews KCB, DSO, CB, whose mother was a cousin of Lady Kirby; Lady Andrews

This painting formerly hung in Admiralty House, Bermuda

This splendid painting records the famous action that took place off Cape St Vincent, Southern Portugal in 1797. AdmiralJervis, aboard the Victory, had taken up stadon with his fleet in the mouth of the Tagus. The alarm in England was at this time very great as it was known that the French and Spanish were supreme in the Mediterranean. It was belie\ ed that they would make a strenuous

effort to obtain the command of the English Channel, and to give effect to their long talked-of scheme of invasion. Jervis realised that at all costs he must prevent any fleet from the Mediterranean passing to the north to effect a junction with the French at Brest. In this determination he posted himself ofT Cape St \ ' incent in the early days of February- 1797. He had intelligence that the Spanish fleet had sailed from Cartagena, and day by day he recei\ed news of its approach. O n the morning of St Valentine's day it was in sight, consisting of twenty-seven sail of the line. There were only fifteen of the English, but most of these had during the past year been subjected to the most severe discipline, and were in exceptionally . good order, while the Spanish ships, newly commissioned, with ignorant officers and untrained crews of landsmen, were utterK ineflicient. Their fleet was in straggling disorder when, at a fe\\' minutes past noon, the English in close line of battle passed through it, cutting off and forcing to leeward about one third of its numbers, and tacked in succession towards the larger division, which at once hauled to the wind and virtually fled.

Robert Cleveley came from a family of marine painters: his father, John, had been a professional painter since the late 1 740's after an initial apprenticeship as a carpenter, and his twin brother, John, worked with Robert in the Royal Dockyard in Deptford. He was appointed Draughtsman to William, 4th Duke of Clarence (later William IX"), and specialised in battle scenes. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1780 and 1803 and more than thirty of his drawings are now in the National Maritime Museum.

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55

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Cornelius Van de Velde 1675-1729

A Royal Tacht Approaching the Fleet

Signed and dated 1 703 (on reverse) Oil on canvas 24'/2 X 37V2 in / 62 X 95 cm

• • •

Cornelius Van de Velde and his father, William, were invited to England b\' King Charles II in 1673. The king had taken a keen interest in the race to discover longitude and was activeK- im olved in developing the fleet, building the Royal Observatory- and patronising marine painting.

The Van de \'elde studio became so popular that it expanded to become a highly ]5roducti\'e studio with many of the assistants working on a \'ariet>- of paintings and no one artist solely responsible for any individual painting. This signed and dated example of 1703 is therefore of particular interest and can be wholly ascribed to Cornelius Van de Velde. Indeed, very- little documentary-evidence exists of their work and it is only through signed examples such as this one and others in museum collections that we are able to piece together this important part of the history of marine painting.

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57

Robert Dodd 1748-1815

The Bellmont (758 tons, China Run) Weathering a Squall

Signed and dated 1796 Oil on canvas 3 9 x 57 i n / 9 9 x 145 cm In original gilt frame

P R O V E N A N C E

Painted for Sir Robert Preston of Valley-field, Fife, owner of the vessel; thence by descent to Charles Dashvvood Preston Bruce, Lord Elgin, until 1979, when sold to a collector in South Africa.

This superb ship portrait ranks amongst the finest of its type of the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. It portrays an East Indiaman of the type which formed the backbone of English maritime commercial success in the Napoleonic period and after. They were chartered by the East India Company from private owners (this particular ship being joindy owned by Mr Foulis and Sir Robert Preston) and then used to convey goods between the distant parts of the rapidly expanding British Empire in South Africa and India. They were surprisingly well armed, and capable of sailing fast and independently in hostile waters without convoy assistance.

Robert Dodd was one of the leading maritime artists of his day and was responsible for many of the images we have of the Napoleonic Wars. Apart from his stirring paintings of naval engagements, Dodd's speciality was ship portraiture and he has left us with a substantial number of accurately delineated and vigorously drawn ships of both merchant and naval types.

Dodd was not only a painter of considerable merit, but also an engraver of his own works. Consequently, his work achieved a much wider reputation than that of many of his contemporaries.

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59

Pierre-Joseph Petit 18th centurv

The Bay of Naples Looking Towards Santa Lucia

The Bay of Naples Ijooking Towards Vesuvius

A pair Each signed and dated 1791 Oil on canvas

21'/2 X 3IV4 in / 55 X 81cm

Pierre-Joseph Petit was b o r n in Tourna i in Belgium, a n d was a s tudent of Jean-Francois Hue , a mar ine and landscape painter. H e regularly t ra\el led to ItaK' and exhibited at the Salon, and it has been suggested that this pair of" Neapol i tan views was exhibited at the Salon in 1793 (no 100) as simply 'a pair of landscapes ' .

Petit exhibited a n u m b e r of Italian views at

the Salons of 1793, 1795, and 1800, but a l though he cont inued to show there until 1819, his product ion of Italian views stopped in 1820.

Two works i)\' Petit are now in the collection of the M u s e u m in Saint-Ktienne, The Tower of Clappe and On the Banks of the Ijoire.

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61

Studio of Joseph Vernet 1714-1789

A British Merchant Ship at Anchor in a Harbour

Painted circa 1760

Oil on canvas

53 x 72 in / 134.5 x 183 cm

In contemporary giltwood frame

Joseph Vernet began his career in Avignon,

where he was influenced by the works of

Claude Lorrain, Gaspard Dughet and

Salvator Rosa, whose paintings hung in local

private collections. In 1734 he travelled to

Italy, settling quickly into the well established

French artistic community catering to Grand

Tour visitors. Vernet quickly became the

dominant figure among this artistic

community' and was elected to the

Accademia de S Luca. By the middle of the

eighteenth century, Vernet's fame was well

established and his works were to be found

in many international collections,

particularly those of Russian noblemen.

Another, signed version of the present

painting is illustrated as no 986 in the

Catalogue Raisome of Vernet by Florence

Ingersoll Smouse published in 1926. This

painting, entitled Le Matin was hung as a

pendant with I j i Nuit, both signed and dated

1774 and exhibited at the Ancien Academic

des Beaux Arts (nos 587 and 588). Both

pictures were then in the collection of the

Hermitage in St Petersburg.

The canvas size of Le Matin is exactly the

same size as the present painting and there is

little difference between the two works,

except that the rising sun seems more clearly

outlined in our painting. Unfortunately Le

Matin is no longer in the Hermitage. It is

presumed to have been deacquisitioned in

the early 1930's, and therefore it has only

been possible to study it from a poor black

and white reproduction. Interestingly,

however, this reproduction shows Le Matin in

an identical frame to ours.

Many of the figure postures in the present

painting are typical of Vernet's work, and

are believed to have been painted by the

master himself The figure of the fishermen

beneath a tree with a net and a boat is

reversed in his later painting Pecheurs Sur Le

Rivage (Stockholm Museum); the two ladies,

one holding a basket, are again repeated in a

painting entitled Marine (collection of Paul

Cailleux); and the last figure, which can be

seen in a number of Vernet's works, is the

man pulling a net of fish from beneath the

wooden cradle. This is repeated in La Miit.

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63

John Francis Rigaud, RA 1742-1810

Portrait of Captain William Peacock m

Inscribed CAP^ WILLLLM PKiCOCK Oil on canvas

5 0 x 4 0 in / 127 X 101.5 cm In con temporan- gilded f r ame

E X H I B I T E D

Royal Academy 1781, N o 9, 24 or 201. Rigaud exhibited three portrai ts of naval officers at the Royal Academy in 1781: Capta in William Pcacock, Cap ta in Charles Morice Pole a n d Capta in Hora t io Nelson. His portrai t of Nelson is now in the collection of the Nat ional Mar i t ime Museum, Greenwich.

L I T E R . \ T U R E

W'alpole Society, 1984, A Memorial of John Francis Rigaud by his Son (John Francis Dutilh Rigaud), pp.65-67.

J o h n Francis Rigaud was born in Turin on May 18th 1742, and he received his ardstic training in most of the principal towns of Italy, notably the Academy in Bologna (Member, 1766) and Rome. In Rome he met the distinguished Irish painter, J ames Barry, who persuaded him to seek his fortune in England.

Rigaud arrived in England, \ ia Paris, on 14th December 1771, already a fully t ra ined and versatile painter after his experience and training in Italy. In London , Rigaud was swiftly accepted into the centre of artistic life and within twelve mon ths of his arrival was appointed an Associate of the Royal , \ cademy in recognition of his talents. H e exhibited there f rom 1772 until his death in 1810, having become a full m e m b e r in 1 784. He marr ied an English w o m a n , M a r y Williams, in July 1774, and they had several children including his son and biographer , Stephen Rigaud.

A \ ersalile painter, Rigaud was commissioned to paint histories, decorati\ c schemes and m\thologies, but was most successful as a portrait painter. T h e life of Rigaud is

extensively documented in the biography prepared by his son (the manuscr ipt of which is now in the Beinecke Library at Yale University) which was edited in 1984 for the Walpole Society. In consequence, we know-more of Rigaud than almost any of his contemporaries . His reputat ion amongst his fellow artists was high (although towards the end of his life he seemed to have become quarrelsome, and thereby lost several elections for posts as officer of the R-A) a n d that j u d g e m e n t is amply vindicated by his survix'ing portraits which are seldom to be seen on the art market .

R i g a u d was at the height of his success in the 1780's to the mid 1790's. H e was a con t r ibu to r to the seminal Shakespeare Gal lery f o r m e d by A l d e r m a n Boydell, which was the first a t t empt (and an heroic one) to establish a native school of His tory pa in t ing on the g r a n d scale. It is not for the g r a n d e u r a n d pompos i ty of history pa in t ing though that R igaud is known: 'His best works are his por t ra i ts in a na tura l a n d unf la t te r ing style' (Waterhouse, Dictionary of 18th Century British Painters). These por t ra i ts cover all aspects of the genre: small conversat ion pieces, large family pieces, a n d especially quiet a n d studious single figures

at t h r ee -qua r t e r length. T h e y a re fa r m o r e analyt ical of cha rac t e r t h a n the lofty (and somet imes a r rogan t ) p roduc t ions of Reynolds , a n d m o r e solid t h a n the light-hea r t ed rococo of G a i n s b o r o u g h .

Rigaud is at his best with sitters whose personality come across as more central than the finery of their dress or the pretension of their class. H e seems to have m a d e something of a speciality of portraits of officers of the Royal Navy, starting in 1778 with his Royal Academy e.xhibit of Admira l William Parry (National Mar i t ime Museum, Greenwich), a deliberately conservati\'ely posed portrai t of an ageing and conscientious officer. It harks back to the work of T h o m a s Hudson a generat ion earlier.

T h r e e years later, R igaud exhibited what must rank amongst the finest small g roup of Naval portraits e\ er shown at the A c a d e m y T h e contrast with the Parry portrai t could hardly be stronger; here is the new generat ion taking over f rom the old. His glamorous portrai t of the young Hora t io Nelson leaning confidently on his sword has long been considered the most attractive portrai t of that great m a n and it is inscribed in the same early hand as bo th the portraits of Peacock and Pole, suggesting strongly that the g roup were intended to hang together. This certainly makes sense f rom an historical point of \ ievv since all three were young stars of the Royal Navy recendy re turned f rom the Nor th American and Car ibbean station who had achie\'ed senior rank at a \'ery young age.

Nelson had re tu rned to P.ngland af ter the s t renuous assault on San J u a n in 1780, a n d rested for a few mon ths before assuming the capta incy of the Albemarle fr igate (28 guns) in August 1781. Pole had been on the Nor th •America station with the Hussar, r e tu rn ing briefly to England late in 1 780 before assuming c o m m a n d of Success. Peacock had been p romoted Cap ta in of the Cary.fort frigate on 28th O c t o b e r 1 780, a ship on which he saw two years ' cont inuous serv ice in Nor th Amer ica .

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Attributed to Peter Turnerelli 1774-1839

Horatio, Admiral Lord Nelson (1758-1805) wearing the Order of the Bath and a Naval Reward Medal

Marble bust Height: 21 in / 53cm

P R O V E N A N C K

CoUection of M a u d M a n - (1865-1943), niece of Horatio, 3rd Lord Nelson; acquired f rom the Nelson family trust

T h e iconography of Nelson is as complex and extensive as the fame of the sitter, the greatest fighting Admiral in history. He is the subject of a vast collection of portraits in oil, vvatercolour and other media, sculpture, prints, ceramics and bronzes (although he displayed remarkably little patience for sitting to the large number of artists who wished to portray him) f rom his earliest ma jo r portrait by Rigaud to his splendid t omb memorial by Flaxman.

T h e present sculpture has its strongest analogy in painting in the sensitive portrait of Nelson by Lemuel Francis Abbot (National Portrait Gallery), where the sitter wears similar decorations. This enables us to date the piece to 1797 or shortly after, and it thus depicts the sitter immediately after his successes at the Battle of Cape St Vincent.

He had spectacularly engaged the Santissima Trinidad (130 guns), then the largest ship in the world, with the Captain (80 guns), and though himself e\'entually battered to unsailability, had so reduced her capacity as to make her surrender inevitable. He then boarded the San Nicolas, which he captured, and the San Josef, which likewise surrendered. For this feat of procuring the surrender of three ships whose combined firepower ou tnumbered his own by four to one, Nelson was made Knight of the Bath and raised to the rank of Rear Admiral , though still not yet forty years old.

T h e vigorous modelling of this sculpture and its elfectiveness as a work of art in the round suggests that this piece is of autograph quality, unlike many of the later Nelson busts which seem at best to be based on frontal face masks (or indeed painted portraits). The re is clear documentat ion that Turnerelli was working on the sculptured portraiture of Nelson before his death in 1805 (see Rupert Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculpture, p. 402), and a large number of his earliest commissions were of naval heroes (including a fanciful Sir Francis Drake for Lord Heathfield and Admiral Hood for Lord Bridport).

Turnerelli was born in Dublin, the son of Giacopo Tognarelli, an immigrant ItaHan sculptor.

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Charles Napier Hemy

1841-1917

Life! Signed and dated 1913 Inscribed on rex erse Oil on cam as 4 9 x 72 in / 124.5 X 183 cm

PROVKXAXCK

Royal Academy 1913, no 163

T h e painting is inscribed on the reverse as follows: ILi no 1 Life! / .1 wet sheet and a

flowing sea / A wind that follows fast / And fills the white and rustling sail / And bends the gallant mast / C Napier Hemy / Falmouth 1913. T h e \ erse comes from a poem by Allan Cimningham.

Charles Napier Hemy was born in Newcastle in 1841, the son of a com|)oscr. When he was ten his famih' mo\ ed to Australia and for a time the yotmg CUiades worked as a gold miner He returned to England in the late 1850's with the intention of entering the priesthood, but shortly before taking his final \ ows changed his mind and decided to become a professional painter. He returned to Newcastle and studied at the Newcastle Art Scliool.

Hemy exhibited o\er eighty times at the Royal Academy from 1865 until his death in 1917. hi the 1880's lie moved to Falmouth and from this point dexoted his career to marine painting. While his early coastal scenes show a strong Pre-Raphaeli te influence. ])articularly in the detailed rocks, by this time his style was becoming freer. A keen sailor himself his dee]3 understanding and lo\e o f the sea is well e\ ident in his works and a faxourite device was to place the horizon cjuite high on the c a i n a s in order to dejjici the lull majesty ol' the sea. As a result, the to|j ol" the ship masts are often tnmcated, as in the present painting.

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riiis picture shows three of Heniy 's sons (he had ten children) sailing the yacht Barbara which was n a m e d af ter his sixth child. T h e artist 's notebooks in the Ashmolean M u s e u m describe how H e m y was insijirecl to paint this picture while he was sailing ofT I 'a lmouth and how the boat was hauled up to his garden where he pain ted a n u m b e r of studies of the ligures.

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Index

Artist Title Page

Barret, George; Gilpin, Sawrey & Walton, Henry Grey and A Bay Hunter 20-23

Brooking, Charles A Galliot Firing a Salute 45

Cleveley, Robert A Scene from the Battle of Cape St Vincent 54-55

Dodd, Robert The Bellmont 58-59

Hall, Harr\ Maurice Daly 11

Hemy, Charles Napier Life 68-71

Herring, John Prederick (Senior) Memnon 10

Holman, Francis Shipping o f f the Coast 44

Man, L D M a n A Barge Coming Alongside the Carolina 46-47

Marshal l , Ben A Welsh Springer Spaniel 36-37

Marshal l , Ben & \Vootton, John Greville 12-13

Munnings, Sir .\lfred A Mare and a Foal in a Landscape; A Hunter in a Landscape (a pair) 38-39

Parker, Charles Bell's Life in lj)ndon 40-41

Petit, Pierre-Joseph The Bay of Naples (a pair) 60-61

Rigaud, John Francis Portrait of Captain William Peacock 64-65

Roper, Richard A Gentleman in Hunting Pinks 32-33

Sartorius, Francis Colonel J o l l i f f e ' s Hunt in Full Cry 25

Sartorius, Prancis A Meet of Foxhounds 26-27

Sartorius, John Nost The Charlton Hunt Drawing Cover 24

Stringer, Thomas, of Knutsford Beauty 18-19

Stubbs, George Squirrel 28-29

Tasker, Wil l iam The Finish 8-9

Turnerelli . Peter (Attributed to) Admiral Horatio, Viscount Nelson 66-67

Van /Vken, Joseph A Sporting Conversation Piece 34-35

Van de Velde, Cornelius A Royal Yacht Approaching the Fleet 56-57

Studio of Joseph \'ernet A British Merchant Ship at Anchor in a Harbour 62-63

Whitcombe, Thomas HM Corvette Laurel o f f Table Mountain 50-51

Whitcombe, Thomas An Indiaman in Two Positions 52-53

Williams, Wil l iam Fdward Parker with his Hunter 30-31

Wootton, John A Grey Stallion 14-17

Mallett & Son (Antiques) Ltd 1999. Designed by Theo Hodges Business Design Clonsultants, 020 7351 0749. Printed by Hyvvay Printing Ciroup

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