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03 September 2010
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Pictures and Mirrors
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SOLD....Portrait of Nell Gwynn, studioof Sir Peter Lely
Oil on canvas in carved and giltwood 'Lely' frame.
STUDIO OF SIR PETER LELY
SIR PETER LELY (1618 - 1680) was the dominant Court and Society portraitist of the reign of Charles ll. He was made Principal Painter to the King in 1661, and knighted in 1680.
Many portraits of unknown Restoration ladies are said to be Nell Gwyn, on no grounds at all. It is rare for one to be unquestionably of the actress, as this one is.
This studio work is identical to the prime version painted by Lely and formerly at Parham Park, Collection of the Hon. Clive Gibson, and sold at Sotheby's 15 June 2000 for £57,500.
Portraits of prominent subjects of their day, especially Royal and Court sitters, were in much demand after the Restoration. Lely’s many talented studio assistants, among them Greenhill and Lankrink, were regularly occupied in making highly accomplished copies under Lely's supervision.
Nell looks confidentally at the viewer, her decollatage very revealing, as was the custom for portraits of mistresses. To her right, in an urn, grows Spanish Jasmine which signifies sensuality, and was famous for its exotic heady perfume which is especially intoxicating at night....all very appropriate.
NELL GWYN (or Gwynn or Gwynne) was born Eleanor Gwyn (2 Feb. 1650 - 14 Nov. 1687).
Charles II's famous mistress ('pretty witty Nell' in Pepys's words) began life as an orange seller in the Theatre Royal, where she was befriended by Charles Hart and John Lacy, the players. In 1665 she appeared for the first time on the stage as Cydraria in Dryden's 'Indian Emperor'. Pepys greatly admired her, and she continued in numerous roles by Dryden and others until she quitted the stage in 1682. Dryden wrote parts especially for her, taking advantage in particular of her gift for delivering prologues and epilogues. After she had recited an epilogue in a hat 'of the circumference of a large coach-wheel', Charles II approached her and took her back in his coach to supper. Much of her popularity as the King's mistress lay in the unpopularity of the Catholic Duchess of Portsmouth, her main rival. It is said that when mobbed in Oxford by a crowd who mistook her for her rival, Nell leant out of her coach and said: 'Pray good people be civil; I am the Protestant whore'. Madame de Sevigne noted the rivalry and said of Nell Gwyn: 'She is young, indiscreet, confident, wild and of an agreeable humour: she sings, she dances, she acts her part with a good grace.' She had two sons by the King and the eldest, Charles, was created Duke of St Albans. The King assigned Burford House in Windsor to her. She died aged 37 and is buried in the Church of St. Martin's in the Fields, at the corner of Trafalgar Square.
SIZE: 49.5 x 39.5 inches canvas size
PROVENANCE: by descent in Ireland since at least c.1800 to the previous owner
Price:
£28,000
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Portrait of Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester,c.1690, by John Closterman.
Oil on canvas in Lely pattern gilt frame.
An extremely high quality portrait thought to be of Catherine Sedley; the sitter bears a very strong resemblance to a portrait of 1685 by Kneller at Kedleston Hall. (See Plate 96 'Painted Ladies. Women at the Court of Charles ll'. Published by the National Portrait Gallery).
As was the fashion the sitter is shown wearing her most informal garments, known as 'undress' yet she wears a diamond brooch and holds what seems to be a diamond necklace. (Until the 19th c. all diamonds were flat or table cut and thus appear as black gems in portraiture). One can only presume there was some significance in their depiction...perhaps relating to her engagement or marriage which occurred around this time.
CATHERINE SEDLEY, Countess of Dorchester, Countess of Portmore (c. 1657 – 26 October 1717), daughter of Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet, was the mistress of King James II both before and after he came to the throne.
She was created Countess of Dorchester for life in 1686, an elevation which aroused much indignation and compelled Catherine to reside for a time in Ireland. In 1696 she married Sir David Colyear, Bt., who was created Earl of Portmore in 1703, and she was thus the mother of Charles Colyear, 2nd Earl of Portmore. She died at Bath on 26 October 1717, when her life peerage became extinct.
By James II, Lady Dorchester had a daughter Lady Catherine Darnley (d. 1743), who married James Annesley, 3rd Earl of Anglesey, and after his death married John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby. Through Catherine, her daughter by her first husband, she was the ancestress of the Barons Mulgrave and of the Mitford sisters.
JOHN CLOSTERMAN (1660-1711), born in Osnabruck, settled in London in !681. He worked with John Riley until the latter's death in 1691.
By the 1690s Closterman was rediscovering earlier influences, especially the extravagant, textural, French manner he learned in Paris under François de Troy. He was adept at fashionable baroque poses, with rather showily painted draperies.
Closterman’s sense of theatre and his mastery of colour explains his appeal to a broad clientele, from nobles like the Dukes of Somerset and Marlborough to Sir Christopher Wren and Henry Purcell, the geniuses of the age.
Dimensions: 48.75" x 58"
To view our complete range of period portraits click on the Links button above and go to our LAPADA website.
Price:
£19,500
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Portrait of a Lady, by Jean-Baptiste Van Loo, c.1740
Oil on canvas in good quality period giltwood frame (with damages).
A fine portrait of an aristocratic lady showing the qualities that made the artist such a success...an ability to suggest wit, a sense of humour and an inner mental life in his sitters; and, in the drapery, a freedom of expression and a painterly delight in the use of the medium.
The effect of Van Loo's arrival in London on British portraiture was dynamic - the Continental refinement and polish that was characteristic of his work made much of the then fashionable painting seem stilted and old-fashioned. His style was particularly successful with portraits of women.... he had a smarter style than Richardson's, he influenced Hudson, and his manners and manner suited the upper classes better than Hogarth's.
JEAN-BAPTISTE VAN LOO (1684-1745), born in Aix-en-Provence.
He worked in the south of France, Turin and Rome, settling in Paris in 1720 becoming a Member of the Academy.
Coming to England in 1737 he had immense success in London as a fashionable portrait painter; by 1739 he was the favourite painter of the Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole and had painted the Princess of Wales and her family. Due to ill-health he returned to France in 1742, dying there three years later.
Dimensions: 32" x 37"
Price:
£5,995
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Portrait of Thomas Cookson, c.1735, English School
Oil on canvas in 18th c. giltwood frame.
The sitter was a member of the Cookson family of Cumberland and Yorkshire; he died in 1773.
Thomas's father William (died 1743) was a wealthy merchant and pewterer in Penrith. He married Susannah Idle in 1701.
The Cooksons also owned ironworks and colleries. Thomas's uncle was the Reverend Joseph Cookson, Vicar of Leeds.
The poet William Wordsworth's mother was a Cookson.
This portrait, with seven others of the Cooksons hung in Keith Hall, Aberdeenshire, home of the Earls of Kintore. It can only be presumed that there was some marital conection between the families, as why else would a powerful aristocratic Scottish family dating back to the 12th century have eight portraits of an English mercantile middle-class family hanging in their ancestral home?
The sitter, Thomas Cookson, expensively bewigged and wearing the fashionable silk wrap of a gentleman at leisure, looks rather inquiringly at the viewer. He seems at ease, and his build and ruddy complexion indicate a man who enjoyed good living.
The unknown artist clearly had considerable talent; the face is beautifully painted and a strong sense of the character of the sitter is present.
SIZE: 39 x 32 inches inc. frame
To view our complete range of period portraits click on the Links button above and go to our LAPADA website.
Price:
£3,150
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SOLD....Giltwood Mirror
A well carved Victorian overmantle mirror, c.1850, with its original glass. Minor repairs to the carving.
Dimensions: 58" x 38"
Price:
£890
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SOLD....Regency Mirror
A very attractive carved, painted and gilt Regency mirror with very delicately gilded pastoral scene in the frieze flanked by foliate carving over corinthian columns, c.1830.
Price:
£890
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Fret Mirror
A Georgian style mahogany fret mirror with carved ho-ho bird and gilt slip, c.1890 in excellent condition.
Dimensions: 27" x 17"
Price:
£350
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Chris Wilde Antiques 7 Imperial Mansions
Harrogate
Yorkshire
HG1 2TA
Tel 01423 758320 or 07831 543268
Email chris@harrogate.com
www.chriswildeantiques.co.uk
© 2010 Chris Wilde Antiques
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