here - Philip Mould

LAPADA Fair, London
24 – 28 September 2014
Philip Mould & Company, 29 Dover Street, London, W1S 4NA
[email protected]
Tel: 0207 499 6818
Fax: 0207 495 0802
Foreward
Following the success of last year Philip Mould Portrait Miniatures are delighted to
be exhibiting once again at the LAPADA Fair London.
This year we will be unveiling a number of new acquisitions and discoveries
including a portrait of Charles II’s mistress Barbara Villiers as well two fine
nineteenth century enamels by William Essex.
If you are unable to join us at LAPADA then we look forward to seeing you in
November at out forthcoming exhibition ‘John Smart: A Genius Magnified’ (25
November – 9 December), where we will be exhibiting forty-five portrait miniatures
and works on paper from an important European private collection.
We hope you enjoy our selection, many more of which will be on display on our
stand. If you have any questions at all, or would like to arrange a time to visit our
gallery and discuss our works, please do not hesitate to contact us at:
[email protected].
Emma Rutherford
Consultant, Portrait Miniatures
We will be exhibiting at the following fairs in 2014:
Harrogate – 2-5 May
Masterpiece – 26 June – 2 July
Master Paintings Week – 4-11 July
Lapada - 24-28 September
Cat.1
NICHOLAS DIXON (c. 1645 - after 1708)
Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine (1640-1709) c.1776
Watercolour on vellum
Oval, 1 1/16 ins, (26mm (high)
Provenance
Daphne Foskett Collection.
£4,750
The present likeness of Barbara Villiers, the infamous mistress of Charles II, was painted by
Nicholas Dixon, one of the leading court miniaturists or ‘limners’ working in postRestoration England. Villiers was perhaps the most painted female sitter of the late
seventeenth century, and the numerous portraits, prints, and copies of her image are
testament to her place in the public’s imagination.
Barbara Villiers first met Charles II when the Royalist court was in exile in the Low
Countries. At the Restoration she was established as the King's favourite mistress, and,
despite his marriage to Catherine of Braganza and the jealousy of other courtiers, she
maintained a powerful influence at court.
Nevertheless, royal attention, wealth and a degree of political power did not stop Villiers
from engaging in other relationships. Amongst her various liaisons was one in 1668 with the
tragic actor Charles Hart, presumably in retaliation for the King's growing attraction for
actresses such as Nell Gwynn. By the early 1670s her influence had been entirely supplanted
by Louise de Kéroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth. After this she spent some time in Paris
before returning to England permanently in 1682. On the death of her first husband Roger,
Earl of Castlemaine in 1705 she married Major-General Robert Fielding, a bigamist who was
jailed for threatening and maltreating his wife. She died of dropsy on 9th October 1709.
Nicholas Dixon succeeded the short tenure held by Richard Gibson, following the long
career of Samuel Cooper, as king’s limner to Charles II in 1673. Despite his obscure origins
and apparent intermittent poverty (he is documented as paying the ‘poor rate’ from his
London home in the 1670s) he belongs, in style and quality, to the small, distinctive circle of
Restoration court miniaturists.
The distinctive style of the hair, curled and worn up in bunches at the side, is dateable to the
mid-1770s and was probably therefore painted just prior to Villiers’ departure to Paris in
March 1776, where she remained until 1782. The head-type bears a striking similarity to
Lely’s earlier portrait of c.1666 of Villiers standing with her hand resting on a sword
[National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG 387], and it is quite possible, given Villiers’ fall
from favour by this point, that Dixon had to make do with the Lely portrait-type as his
reference, albeit updating the miniature with a more ‘of the moment’ hairstyle.
Cat.2
JEAN PETITOT (1607-1691)
Philippe I, Duc D’Orleans (1640-1701), wearing lace jabot tied with red silk bow
and full-bottomed wig
Enamel on gold
Set into a frame with diamond border
Oval, 30mm (1 3/8in) high
Provenance
Private collection (U.S.A.)
Philippe, Duke of Orleans was the younger brother of King Louis XIV, son of Louis
XIII. He was a lively and intelligent child, the Duchess of Montpensier naming him the
"prettiest child in the world". His sweet face may have encouraged his mother to dress
him in feminine clothing, a habit that continued into adulthood. He carried out his first
official duties at the age of eight after a public baptism presided over by his godmother,
Queen Henrietta Maria of England.
Known simply as ‘Monsieur’ during his elder brother’s reign, Philippe was named Duc
d’Orleans upon the death of his uncle Gaston in 1660. In 1661, Philippe married his first
cousin, Princess Henrietta of England, youngest child of Charles I and Henrietta Maria
(Philippe’s aunt). The couple had two surviving daughters. Henrietta was key in the
negotiation of the Treaty of Dover. She died at the young age of 26 when staying at the
family home of Saint Cloud from peritonitis. Philippe then married, the following year,
Elizabeth Charlotte of Bavaria, who was not as attractive as Henrietta (on first seeing her,
he is said to have remarked; "how will I ever be able to sleep with her?"). The couple had
a surviving son and daughter, their marital relationship abandoned after the birth of their
daughter.
Philippe surrounded himself with handsome men but also took mistresses. He was
unashamedly flamboyant and enjoyed dressing wildly for masques and plays. He was also
a brave and able military commander. His other passions included the theatre1 and art; he
was the main patron for the portratist Pierre Mignard (1612-1695).
This portrait of Philippe appears to have been executed at the same time as Mignard’s
circa 1770 oil portrait.2 The artist of this enamel, Jean Petitot, painted portraits for King
Louis XIV and his court, including intimate portraits of the king’s mistresses (see Victoria
and Albert Museum for Petitot’s portrait of Francoise Louise, Duchess de la Valliere,
663-1882). Jean Petitot left England for his native France before the execution of his
patron Charles I in 1649. He may have met Philippe’s future bride as a child while
working for the English royal family.
1
2
He became patron of Molière’s theatre troop between 1658 and 1665
A version of Mignard’s portrait is at Versailles
Cat.3
FRANCISZEK SMIADECKI, (fl. mid-17th Century)
A Gentleman
Oil on copper
Gilt metal frame
Oval, 1 3/4 inches (4.5cm) high
Provenance
Private Collection, USA.
£1,250
Very little is known about Smiadecki, who was born in either Poland or Russia. He
is thought to have been tutored by Alexander Cooper in Sweden and worked
primarily in oils on copper or vellum. The work of Smiadecki has only really gained
the deserved recognition in the last fifty years, and like many other portrait
miniaturists working in oils, Smiadecki did not always sign his work, making the
possibility for study limited.
Cat.4
NATHANIEL HONE (1718-1784)
Charles Howard, 10th Duke of Norfolk (1720-1786), wearing ‘Van Dyck’ style costume,
slashed red tunic with white ruff
Enamel, signed with monogram and dated, ‘NH/ 1767’,
Silver frame, with border of green peridot stones
Oval, 41mm (1 5/8 in) high
Provenance
By family descent, the inventory label on the counter enamel being that of Philip Henry Howard
(1801-1883);
Private Collection USA
Charles Howard, 10th Duke of Norfolk was born after the death of his father, Henry Charles
Howard, in 1720. His mother was Mary, daughter of the London merchant and banker John
Aylward, originally from co. Waterford. Charles was educated on the continent, succeeding to
the family estate of Deepdene, near Dorking, upon the death of his elder brother.
In 1739 he married Catherine Brockholes (1718-1784) at Worksop Manor. In 1746 the couple
had their only child, Charles Howard, later 11th Duke of Norfolk.
Charles’ father, Henry, had been a devout Roman Catholic and he continued to campaign for
toleration for Roman Catholics in England. His pamphlets were heavily criticised by Horace
Walpole, who took exception to the fact that Howard reproduced extensive excerpts from
Walpole’s own Historical Anecdotes. His attitude towards his faith was often disrespectful,
however, with one report of him dressing as a cardinal at a masquerade ball.
The flamboyant dress worn by the Earl in this enamel accords with Tierney’s description of him
as having ‘eccentric manners and more eccentric habits’.3 He was fond of drinking, an addiction
which eventually led to his death in 1786 at his London home, Norfolk House, St James’s
Square. In a letter, Walpole described him as a ‘drunken old mad fellow’.4
This portrait of Charles predates his succession to the earldom by ten years. It is painted the year
before the artist, Hone, became a founding member of the Royal Academy and the year before
the sitter was elected as FSA and FRS.5
Hone was not only an enameller and miniaturist but also a successful oil painter. Born in Dublin,
he studied in Rome and became a member of the Academy of Florence. In 1775, his profile as
an artist was raised by the scandalous, satirical portrait he attempted to exhibit that clearly
portrayed Sir Joshua Reynolds and his former lover Angelica Kauffmann (‘The Conjuror’). His
sitters included aristocracy and royalty but he remained a controversial figure in the art world
until his death in 1784.
The Earls of Arundel, M. A. Tierney (chaplain to the Duke of Norfolk), 1834, 2.569
Walpole, Correspondence, 23.194
5
Fellowships to the Society of Antiquaries and Royal Society.
3
4
Cat.5
JEAN-BAPTISTE WEYLER (1747-1791), after Simon Bernard Lenoir (1729-1791)
The actor Henri-Louis Cain (1729-1778) in the role of the sultan Orosmane,
wearing embroidered gold and ermine-trim silk robe and gold and white turban
enamel on copper
Oval, 91mm (3 9/16 in) high
Provenance
Private collection USA
Literature
J. Aronson and M. E. Wieseman, Perfect Likeness. European and American Portrait Miniatures
from the Cincinnati Art Museum, New Haven/London, 2006, p. 317
£4,500
Henri-Louis Cain, whose stage name was Lekain, was best known for his roles in tragic
plays by Voltaire performed at the Comédie Française. In the present miniature he is
depicted as the sultan Orosmane in Voltaire's Zaïre. The letter in his hand represents the
note sent to the sultan's future bride, Zaïre, a Christian and former slave, from her
brother, Nerestan.
This enamel is taken after the large portrait by Simon Bernard Lenoir, now in the
collection of the Comédie Française, Paris. There is a larger version by Weyler in enamel in
the Louvre, signed and dated 1782 (inv. RF30962) and a smaller part copy is signed but
not dated (inv. RF30963), both formerly in the David-Weill collection. Another version
was sold in the Clore Collection, part II, Sotheby's, London, 10 November 1986, lot 195.
A further small version is in the Cincinnati Art Museum, inv. 1990.1616. For a discussion
of the original painting see Turquerie: An Eighteenth-Century European Fantasy by
Haydn Williams (2014), pg. 81.
Cat.6
ABRAHAM DANIEL (d.1806)
Grace Francklyn (b.c.1775-1804)
Watercolour
Inscribed on a lebel on the reverse: ‘Grace Francklyn/died 30 Dec 1804/aged 29/my mother
HGF’
Oval, 70mm, (2 3/4 ins.) high
£7,500
The present work is a fine example by Abraham Daniel, a successful portrait miniaturist who
worked in the west-country in the mid-late eighteenth century.
The life and work of Abraham has been somewhat confused in the past with that of his brother
Joseph. There are at present no known signed works by Joseph, however we do know through
his obituary that he was a well-reputed miniature painter who worked in both Bristol and Bath,
and he also exhibited on a few occasions in London at both the Society of Artists in 1783 (a ‘Jew
Rabbi’) and the Royal Academy in 1799 (‘five portrait miniatures’). Until any signed examples of
Joseph’s work emerge, it is impossible to comment on similarities and judge whether there is
actually a warrant for a confusion of styles, especially given that the one signed work by
Abraham - a drawing of c.1790 showing Rabbi Moses Ephraim of Plymouth6 stylistically allows a
very satisfying comparison with a number of works previously considered to be by Joseph.
Perhaps one reason for the popular assumption that they worked in a similar style is due to a
contemporary comment made by artist and former apprentice of Abraham, Samuel Hart, who
states that they both received tuition from their mother - “a very ingenious woman”.7
Abraham appears to have been based mainly in Plymouth and is mentioned in the congregation
records of the Plymouth Synagogue twice; first in 1779, when he promised one guinea to the
War Levy (never paid), and again in 1788 when he paid £8.16s.6d to the congregation. He also
appears in the Universal British Directory of 1798 as a miniature-painter in Plymouth. Plymouth
offered rich pickings for portrait painters during that period who profited from the affluence of
the port and the surrounding areas. The assumption that Abraham also at times worked in Bath
alongside his brother can be supported by two advertisements in the Bath newspapers from
September 1799 (5th and 26th respectively) which both mention a ‘Mr. Daniel Miniature Painter’
whilst listing two separate addresses. When Abraham died in Plymouth in 1806 his estate was
valued at £1500 which was divided between two sisters.
The identity of the sitter in the present work is inscribed on a period label on the reverse as
‘Grace Francklyn’, with her death date stated as 30th December 1804 when aged 29. A study of
Anglican parish registers has proved fruitless when trying to obtain more information about the
sitter, and one wonders whether, like Abraham, she may have been part of the Jewish
community thus explaining the absence of baptism and burial records.
6
7
in the collection of[Dr. Cecil Roth as of 1958] and resprodueced in…..
A.Rubens, Jewish Historical Society, Vol.XVIII, 1958, p.105.
Cat.7
ARCHIBALD ROBERTSON (1765-1835)
An Officer of the Royal Artillery, c.1785.
Watercolour
Gilt-metal frame
Oval, 3 ½ ins. (8.3cm) high
Provenance
The artist;
By descent in the family;
J. B. Robertson, grand-nephew of the artist;
His sale, Christie's London, 12 July 1988, lot 190.
Literature
Foskett, Dictionary of Miniature Painters, (London, 1972), vol I, p. 472, vol II pl. 295, fig. 737.
Foskett, Miniatures, Dictionary & Guide, (London, 1979) p. 214, pl 52E.
Exhibited
Exhibition of British Portrait Miniatures, Edinburgh, Arts Council Gallery, 1965, no. 306.
Archibald Robertson was born in Aberdeen, the son of an architect and the brother of
miniaturists Andrew Robertson (1777-1845) and Alexander Robertson (1772-1841). The arts
were particularly vibrant in Scotland during this period and Robertson brothers were supposedly
well acquainted with the likes of Sir Henry Raeburn, whose style is clearly reflected in the work
of Archibald’s brother Andrew and indeed at times, his own.
Robertson travelled to London in 1786 where he studied under Charles Shireff (b.c.1750) and
supposedly entered the Royal Academy schools, which is when he presumably painted is
composite portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds [Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York].
In 1791 Robertson travelled to New York where he later established the Columbian Academy
with his brother Alexander and painted portraits in oil, watercolour and crayons. Shortly after
moving to New York Robertson went to Philladelphia where he painted a portrait of George
Washington onto a slab of marble [New York Historical Society]. Robertson seems to have
painted numerous portraits of Washington, including an oil at Sulgrave Manor, Oxfordshire, for
the 11th Earl of Buchan under whose invitation Robertson travelled to New York initially.
Although details of his career in America are scarce, we know he published a treatise on
miniature painting and maintained a large family with wife Eliza Abramse before his death in
1835.
Cat.8
JOHN BOGLE (1746?-1803)
A Gentleman, wearing a black jacket and white cravat, his right arm tucked
inside his jacket and his left arm resting on a column, holding a book.
Watercolour on ivory
Later gold plated frame with blue glass reverse, signed and dated on the obverse
‘JB/ 1799’
Oval, 76mm (3 inches) high
£2,950
The present work is good example of Bogle’s imaginative late period and reflects
the increasing demand in the final quarter of the eighteenth century for a grander,
more romanticised style of portraiture.
The Scottish-born artist John Bogle is often admired for his evocation of
personality in his astonishingly detailed portrait miniatures. He might have
become a member of the aristocracy but never made any claim to his title, the ‘Earl
of Menteith’. When he moved from Edinburgh to London in 1770, he met some
of the most interesting characters in Georgian England, even accompanying Fanny
Burney to witness the trial of Warren Hastings. In 1800, the year after the present
work was painted, Bogle moved to Edinburgh where he remained until his death in
1803.
The incorporation of architectural features in English portraiture was pioneered by
Sir Joshua Reynolds from c.1760 onwards, and was used as a visual metaphor for
the noble status of his sitters.
Cat.9
HENRY EDRIDGE A.R.A. (1769-1821)
A Gentleman, wearing green jacket
Watercolour on ivory
Gold plated frame
Oval, 2 3/4 x 2 1/4 7cm x 5.6cm
£2,500
Henry Edridge was born in Paddington and was his career began after being apprenticed
to the mezzotint engraver Wiliam Pether, who was also a miniaturist. From 1784 Edridge
studied at the Royal Academy Schools, where his work was much admired (and acquired)
by Sir Joshua Reyolds. In 1786 Edridge gained recognition after being awarded a silver
medal and in the same year began exhibiting at the Academy, exhibiting a total of 261
works until his death in 1821.
As well as being a highly talented miniaturist, Edridge also painted works on paper and
his small, full-length figures in landscapes gained him great repute, painting prominent
figures such as Lord Nelson and Prime Minister William Pitt.
The present work survives in very good condition and one notices Edridge’s
characteristically rosy colouring in the sitter’s face.
Cat.10
FREDERICK BUCK (1771-c.1839)
A Young Lady, wearing a white dress with blue ribbon tied at the waist and
frilled collar, with white hat lined with blue and tied with a blue ribbon, her
hair worn long with falling ringlets.
Watercolour on ivory
In a period locket frame, the outside edge engraved with decorations and the
reverse glazed to reveal plaited hair design with cursvive initials ‘JW’.
Oval, 57mm (2 ¼ in) high
£2,950
The remarkable colouring combined with the conspicuous display of fashion make
this work one of the more interesting examples of Buck’s prodigious output.
Buck was born in Ireland and studied at the Dublin Society Schools before
establishing a practice in Cork. By this point Cork was a very busy port and Buck’s
portraits were in high demand from family members wanting a visual record of
their sons and husbands before they departed to war. His prolific output meant
that quality was not always maintained and some of his sitter’s heads sit quite
uncomfortably due to his practice of adding them to already prepared bodies.
Although the sitter is currently unidentified, she was clearly someone who knew
how to dress herself in complimentary colours with her deep blue eyes echoed in
her bold blue attire.
Cat.11
GEORGE ENGLEHEART (1750/3-1829)
An Old Lady wearing a lace bonnet tied beneath her chin and a black shawl
Watercolour
Bracelet clasp frame
Oval, 42mm. (1 5/8 in.) high
Provenance
Daphne Foskett collection
£1,750
George Engleheart is considered to be one of the most distinguished miniaturists
of the late Georgian period alongside Cosway, Smart and Humphry, and was one
of the most prolific miniaturists ever known.
Born in Kew, the son of a German plaster modeler, he studied at the Royal
Academy Schools under Reynolds and the landscape painter George Barret.
Engleheart’s skill and industry as a miniaturist appealed to George III, and in 1789
he was appointed Miniature Painter to the King. He painted at least twenty-five
portraits of the King and many others of the royal family. He spent most of his
career working in London where he built up an excellent reputation.
Cat.12
ENGLISH SCHOOL, after KATHERINE READ (1723-1779) c.1762
Lady Mary Isabella Somerset, later Duchess of Rutland (1756-1831)
Watercolour
Gold plated frame
Oval, 35mm, (1 3/8 in.) high
£2,250
Lady Mary Isabella Somerset was the youngest daughter of Charles Noel Somerset,
4th Duke of Beaufort (1709-56) and Elizabeth Berkeley (1718/19-1799). Mary’s
father died the year she was born leaving her mother, sister and heir of Norborne
Berkelely, 4th Baronet of Botetourt (c.1717-1770), to maintain the family estates.
Mary seems to have been very much her mother’s daughter and her precocious,
determined nature combined with famous good looks, paved the way for her
career as a political hostess.
In 1775 Mary married Charles Manners, Marquess of Granby, later 4th Duke of
Rutland (1754-87), who was a military officer and Whig politician. Mary did much
to support her husband’s political ambitions and soon became one of the most
prominent hostesses of the period, renowned for her good-taste and elegance
when canvassing for support.
The death of her husband in 1787 did little to affect her career and if anything it
brought her closer to the leading political elites, whose favour she would later rely
on to secure her family’s interests and the future of her son John Henry Mannners,
5th Duke of Rutland (1778-1857). Mary distanced herself for the most part from
the demanding political social spheres towards the end of her life and died in
London 1831.
The present work is a reduced-scale copy of the pastel by Katherine Read
(previously attributed to John Russell) in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
London, painted in 1762.
Cat.13
JAMES (GIUSEPPE) MACPHERSON (b.1726-c.1779)
A Nobleman, wearing white, gold embroidered waistcoat, a scarlet-lined cloak over
his shoulder, his hair worn en queue
Enamel on copper, signed and dated on the counter enamel ‘J Macpherson/ 1758’
Original gold bracelet clasp frame
Oval, 38mm. (1 ½ in.) high
Provenance
Private Collection
£7,500
This fine enamel is one of a handful of surviving enamel portraits by James – or
Giuseppe – Macpherson. His father had been introduced to the Court of Grand
Duke Cosimo III (1642-1743) by Alexander, second Duke of Gordon (1678-1728).
Donald Macpherson, the artist’s father, was in the retinue of the Duke as a running
footman or volante, who settled in Florence and his son, James, was born there in
1726.
As is quite clear from the style of this enamel, James was apprenticed to the great
oil portraitist, Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787), in Rome. By the early 1740s, he was
establishing himself as a miniature painter and enamellist. Macpherson also spent
some time in London. A few years prior to the date of this enamel, in 1754,
Giuseppe Baretti wrote of his portrait which he had ‘had done in enamel by a
young gentleman called Macpherson, a Florentine by birth but of Scottish
extraction, who was in Italy three or four years ago’. Macpherson seems to have
travelled quite widely, working in the courts of Milan, Paris and probably in
Germany. He was employed as a copyist and portraitist, his largest commission
coming from Lord Cowper, the Anglo-Florentine, for whom he copied in
miniature all the artist’s self-portraits in the Grand Duke’s gallery. He could be
described as the prototype for the professional copyists of the 19th century,
particularly the most famous copyist in enamel, Henry Bone.
Macpherson was clearly an extremely talented artist and the scarcity of his works
on the market is probably due to the fact that they are largely in aristocratic
collections or public institutions. Although he spent much of his working life as a
copyist, his portraits from life, such as the one represented here, show that he was
also a sensitive portraitist.
Cat.14
WILLIAM ESSEX (1784-1869) after ANDREW MORTON (1802-45), 1830
King William IV (1765-1837) in Admiral of the Fleet’s full dress uniform
Enamel
Gold-plated frame, the counter-enamel inscribed; ‘WR 4th/Wm. Essex. Pinx. 1830/from
Original picture/by A. Morton Esq.’
Rectangular, 64mm x 45mm (2 ½ x 1 ¾ in.) high
£5,000
William IV’s reign was marked by dramatic political change. The widespread unpopularity of his
lavish spending elder brother, George IV, presented William with a difficult challenge on
becoming king in 1830.
Although William’s (and by proxy the monarchy’s) reception amongst the general
population was improving, his position amongst the ruling class was in doubt, who viewed
his understanding of politics weak and at times naïve. The topic of electoral reform, which
had been a central subject of campaign around the general election after George IV’s death,
gave William a good opportunity to exert on a public stage his ideals of fairness and
equality. Spearheaded by his Prime Minister, Charles, 2nd Earl Grey (1764-1845), the path
to widening the franchise was complicated, not least because the bill had to pass the House
of Lords, many of whose members benefitted from controlling the famous ‘rotten
borough’ constituencies that allowed them to influence the Commons. The first bill was
rejected by the Lords in 1831, prompting an immediate outbreak of violence in many cities
and towns. There was widespread talk of revolution. William’s plan to ensure the bill’s
passage through the Lords was simple, however; he would create enough new, pliant peers
to ensure that Grey had the necessary votes. In the event, the mere threat of a deluge of
new peers was enough to tip the balance, and in 1832 a revised bill received Royal Assent
on 7th June 1832.
In the early hours of 20th June 1837 William died, and was succeeded by his younger
brother’s daughter, Victoria.
William Essex, along with his brother Alfred, trained in the studio of Charles Muss
(1779-1824), a master of multiple disciplines who was patronized frequently by George
III and later William IV. William exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1818, although
the subject matter of these early works tended to be animals or still-life before focusing
on portraiture in the mid-1820s. In 1839 Essex was appointed enamel painter to Queen
Victoria and then later in 1841 to Prince Albert.
The present work derives from Andrew Morton’s full-length portrait of William IV
wearing the full-dress uniform of the Admiral of the Fleet [National Maritime Museum,
Greenwich].
Cat.15
WILLIAM ESSEX (1784-1869) after George Richmond (1809-1896)
Prince George, later Duke of Cambridge (1819-1904), wearing the collar and
mantle of the Order of the Garter
Enamel on gold
Oval, 45mm, (1 ¾ in.) high
£5,000
Prince George was the only son of Adolphus Frederick, youngest son of King George III
after whom he was named. George’s upbringing was eventful, first overcoming scarlet
fever (by supposedly being forced to down a glass of Steinberger wine) and then
enduring death threats by his disturbed tutor who was later declared insane. In 1836
however George’s tutor was replaced with a military governor, and he began laying the
foundations for what would be a celebrated career in the army. From 1856 until his
retirement in 1895 George held the position of head of the British Army as Commanderin-Chief of the Forces.
William Essex is regarded as one of the most important enamellists of the nineteenth
century and his work, although more seldom seen that that of his contemporaries, is
celebrated for its clarity of colour and form.
William, along with his brother Alfred, trained in the studio of Charles Muss (1779-1824),
a master of multiple disciplines who was patronized frequently by George III and later
William IV. William exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1818, although the subject
matter of these early works tended to be animals or still-life before focusing on
portraiture in the mid-1820s. In 1839 Essex was appointed enamel painter to Queen
Victoria and then later in 1841 to Prince Albert.
The present work derives from a sketch by George Richmond – most likely the portrait
from 1842 recorded in his account book [whereabouts unknown], taken when George
was twenty-three years old.
Although we know nothing of the of ownership of this work, the use of gold as a
support suggests this was an important commission, and it is quite possible therefore that
it was commissioned by the royal family and given as a gift to a family member or close
friend. Another enamel version by Essex, also on gold and with a similar inscription on
the reverse, is in the Royal Collection [RCIN 421917], and is recorded to have hung in
the Queen’s Audience Room at Windsor Castle in 1877.