Portrait of a Gentleman
Early 19th C
Oil on canvas. 29 1/2 ins by 24 1/2 ins.
Collection Details
1st Lord Faringdon; previous history unrecorded but possibly the picture with Gooden in 1890 (see below).
Literature
T Borenius, Peinture Anglaise au XVIIIme Siècle, 1939, Pl. 57.
Exhibition Details
Cirencester, Coronation Exhibition, 1953.
Background
Formerly said to be a portrait of William Wilberforce by Romney. Neither of these assertions can be upheld. The engraved portrait (1792) by Rising of Wilberforce as a young man shows a different sitter, and the fluid, almost watercolour manner in which this painting is executed, is totally unrelated to the crisp and broadly modelled style of Romney. It is, if anything, more reminiscent of Hoppner. Ward and Roberts (Romney, 1904, vol. ii, p. 171) record a portrait of Wilberforce attributed to Romney, which was sold at Christie’s, 28 June 1890, lot 107, and bought by Gooden.
The Trustees of the Faringdon Collection 24.
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