Hugh Douglas Hamilton
1739 - 1808
The Duchess of Ancaster
Pastel
Image size: 9 ½ x 7 ¾ inches
Hand made gilt frame
Provenance
Family Estate
Christies Auction, Lot 206, 1977
Agnews
Style of Sir Godfrey Kneller
1646 - 1723
Portrait of William Russell, Lord Russell
Oil on canvas
Image size: 12 x 11 inches (30 x 28 cm)
In a period carved gilt frame
William Russell, Baron Russell (29 September 1639 – 21 July 1683), was an English politician. He was a leading member of the Country Party, forerunners of the Whigs, who opposed the succession of King James II during the reign of King Charles II, ultimately resulting in his execution for treason.
after HANS HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER
1497 – 1543
Portrait of William Warham
Oil on panel, transferred to canvas
Image size: 35 x 38 inches (89 x 71 cm)
Hand made contemporary style frame
Painted between the early 17th and mid 18th century. The handling of the paint in this portrait and the overall appearance of the picture suggests that the artist was a talented early seventeenth-century copyist who has faithfully replicated the earlier composition of Hans Holbein the Younger.
The level of detail suggests that the artist had access to both a pattern and the… Show Full Description original painting when producing this work.
Last of the pre-reformation archbishops of Canterbury, William Warham was born around 1450 in the Hampshire town of Malshanger. Educated at Winchester, he then went on to train as a lawyer at New College Oxford. He proved his skills as a diplomat in his role as Master of the Rolls under Henry VII and was later ordained and made Bishop of London and Keeper of the Great Seal in 1502.
In 1504 he was promoted to Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor, presiding over both the coronation of the new King Henry VIII and his marriage to Katherine of Aragon in 1509. He would later be called upon to act against his conscience and assist Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in attempting to negotiate with the papacy to arrange an annulment for Henry’s marriage to Katherine. Wishing to avoid the king’s displeasure, Warham remained compliant to the crown during the divorce proceedings and submissively accepted Henry as supreme head of the English Church in 1531, but in 1532 he felt compelled to voice his true feelings and published a protest against the Reformation.
He was perhaps saved retribution from the crown by his death by natural causes several months later. Hans Holbein’s original sketch of Warham is housed in the royal the collection at Windsor Castle and his finished portrait, after which this work was painted, currently hangs in the Louvre. Erasmus, a close friend of Warham, had sent him a portrait of himself painted by Holbein as a token of their friendship, and it was perhaps this that prompted the Archbishop to have his own likeness recorded in 1527 in a similar pose to that of his friend.
This fine copy of Holbein’s portrait of Warham was painted between the early 17th and mid 18th centuries. The work is of a high quality and the artist has accurately re-created the same look of weariness in the old man’s face and the naturalistic play of shadow across flesh in Holbein’s original. The depiction of the Archbishop’s regalia is also faithful to the highly detailed rendering in Holbein’s work and displays a great deal of skill on behalf of the copyist.
Hans Holbein (1497/8–1543) was the first great British artist, and is regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. He moved to England from Basel in 1526–8 and then again in 1532–43, an extremely turbulent time in English history when all around were losing their heads.
Thomas Hudson
1701 – 1779
Portrait of Mrs Faber
Oil on canvas
Image size: 29 x 24 ½ inches (74 x 62.5 cm)
Original gilt frame
MRS. FABER
Mrs Faber was the wife of John Faber Jr. (circa 1695 – 1756 ) a famous Mezzotint printer and engraver of the time. Born in Amsterdam, Faber learned drawing and mezzotint engraving from his father before attending the Academy in St Martin’s Lane. Faber was highly regarded as an engraver of portraits and was prolific in his output.
A number of artists employed Faber to make prints after their work. He turned many of Thomas Hudson’s works into prints and a print version of this painting can be viewed at the National Portrait Gallery.
John Faber is best remembered for his forty-seven plates of members of the Kit-Kat Club, (after Kneller), and a series of twelve portraits entitled, "Beauties of Hampton Court".
He died in 1756 and according to Horace Walpole , Mrs. Faber remarried a lawyer by the name of Smith.
THOMAS HUDSON 1701–1779
Thomas Hudson was a celebrated 18th century portrait painter. Born in Devon in 1701 he studied under the artist Jonathan Richardson and married his daughter –against Richardson’s wishes.
He had many artistic friends including William Hogarth and Francis Hayman and travelled with them in Europe in 1748. He also visited Italy with the sculptor Louis-François Roubiliac in 1752. Hudson’s style of portraiture proved so successful that for a decade from 1745 to 1755 he was London’s most popular portrait painter and made a fortune painting the cream of London society and members of the Royal Family.
He was also a talented teacher,perhaps too good, as subsequently a number of his former assistants overtook him in popularity including the artist Joshua Reynolds .
Hudson retired in the late 1750’s and died in Twickenham in 1779.
His most notable works include portraits of King George II and George Friedrich Handel and his “Portrait of a Nobleman in Van Dyck dress.”
Many of Hudson's works may be seen in art galleries. These include the National Portrait Gallery, the National Maritime Museum, the Tate Gallery, the Foundling Museum and the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. His works are also in Museums across the world.
LITERATURE
Ellen G. Miles, Thomas Hudson (1701–1779) Portraitist to the British Establishment, PhD thesis, Yale 1976, pub. University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor
EXHIBITIONS
Ellen G. Miles and Jacob Simon, Thomas Hudson, 1979, Kenwood House
Follower of Ambrose McEnvoy
Circa 1910
Portrait of a Lady
Oil on canvas
Image size: 20 x 16 inches (51 x 40.5 cm)
Original ebonised Frame
Circle of Gerard van Honthorst
1592 - 1656
Portrait of a Gentleman
Oil on wooden panel
Image size: 29 x 23 inches
Contemporary gilt frame
Gerard van Honthorst was a Dutch Golden Age Painter. Early in his career he visited Rome, where he had great success painting in a style influenced by Caravaggio. Following his return to the Netherlands he became a leading portrait painter.
French School
Late 16th Century
Portrait of a Carthusian Monk
Oil on oak panel
Image size: 23 x 18 inches
Contemporary style frame
An extremely rare portrait of a Carthusian Monk. The painting is dated 1573 in the top left corner and it is noted that the monk is forty-three.
Primitive School
Early 19th Century
Portrait of a Young Girl
Oil on canvas
Image size: 12 x 9 ½ inches
Original frame
Charming portraitof a young girl with the face being quite detailed.
Circle of Mary Beale
1633 - 1699
Portrait of a Gentleman
Oil on canvas
Image size: 30 x 25 inches
Contemporary gilt frame
Mary Beale was the daughter of a Suffolk clergyman.She married Charles Beale, an artist's colour-man, in 1652. Beale worked professionally from the mid-1650s, producing numerous portraits, particularly of her family and friends. She was a friend of Sir Peter Lely. Many details of her busy working life are recorded in the notebooks kept by her husband, Charles Beale, who acted as her studio assistant.
French School
18th Century
Portrait of a Young Man
Pastel on paper
Image size: 9.5 x 6.5 inches
Gilt frame
Beatrice Parsons
1868 - 1955
Portrait of a Boy
Watercolour on paper, signed lower right
Image size: 13 x 10 ¾ inches
Contemporary ornate gilt frame
Beatrice Parsons was a flower and genre painter, specialising in pictures of gardens.
Parsons had a thorough academic training, and studied at the Royal Academy Schools. Her early works, mostly exhibited at the Academy in 1890s, were religious subjects. Her brother Karl Parsons was also a religious painter and designer of stained glass.
Parsons did paint some very well executed portraits in watercolour, but they are quite rare. Around 1900, Beatrice Parsons began to paint garden subjects. Parsons first exhibition took place at Dowdeswell’s gallery in 1904, and was an instant success. Forty out of the forty four pictures were sold.
Her work led her not only in England but to Europe and Africa as well, until well into the 1930s, holding regular exhibitions at Dowdeswell’s Gallery and Greatorex Gallery.What is fascinating about Parsons watercolours of gardens is her technique, as it is so different to any other artist of the time.
Queen Mary was a great admirer of her work and many of her works are now in the Royal collection, Beatrice Parsons lived at 63 Kingsfield Road,Oxhey, until her death on February 17,1955.
LiteratureB.Parsons & E.T.Cook, ‘Gardens of England’, A & C Black LtdB.Parsons & D.C. Calthrop ‘The Charm of Gardens’
- Hobhouse & C. Wood ‘Painted Gardens’, Pavilion
Gertrude Braud
British 19th Century
Portrait of Mary Braud
Watercolour on paper
Image size: 11 x 7 ¾ inches
Gilt frame
Hugh Douglas Hamilton
Style of Sir Godfrey Kneller
after HANS HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER
THOMAS HUDSON
Follower of AMBROSE McENVOY
Portrait of a Gentleman
English School
Primitive School
Mary Beale
Portrait of a Young Man
Portrait of a Boy
Gertrude Braud
