Lot Essay
John Wharton Tempest (1772–1793) was the only son of John Tempest M.P., of Wynyard and nephew to the elder John Tempest who had bought Wynyard Hall in 1742. John Wharton died following a riding accident in 1793, which resulted in the estate passing to John Tempest’s sister’s son Sir Henry Vane (2nd Bt., d. 1813), on condition that he assume the names and arms of Tempest. Lady Frances Anne Vane-Tempest was Sir Henry’s only child and heir and it was through her marriage to Charles William, 1st Baron Stewart (Later 3rd Marquess of Londonderry) in 1819 that the ancestral home of the Tempests came into the possession of the Londonderrys. The prime of this painting, which this example was long thought to be, is said to be the only one of the Vane portraits to be saved from the fire which ravaged Wynyard in 1841 (the prime is now in the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, see H. Ward and W. Roberts, Romney, London, Manchester and New York, 1904, p. 155).