Details
WILLIAM FAITHORNE (BRITISH, C. 1616-1691)
Sir John Reresby (1634-1689), in cloak over armour, long curling wig
Plumbago on parchment
Oval, 80 mm. high, gilt-metal frame, the reverse engraved with monogram JR Bart
Provenance
Francis Wellesley Collection, no. 299; Sotheby’s, London, 28 June – 2 July 1920, lot 314 (£25, sold on 29 June).
The Property of the late H. Gordon Bois, Esq.; Sotheby’s, London, 27 March 1947, lot 54 (£54 to Plummer).
Mikel Papier (1889-1948) Collection, and by descent.
Literature
G. C. Williamson, A Hand-list of Miniatures and Portraits in Plumbago or Pencil belonging to Francis and Minnie Wellesley, Oxford, 1914, p. 22 ('I regard this as the finest plumbago portrait that I have every seen. It is in its original silver-gilt frame, with the initials 'J. R. Bart.' on the reverse. Sir John Reresby, a devoted follower of the exiled Stuarts, was born in 1634, and died in 1689; both his 'Travels' and 'Memoirs' are of value.').
B. Long, Catalogue of a Collection of Miniatures in Plumbago etc. Lent by Francis Wellesley Esq, London, 1915, p. 7 , illustrated pl. 4.
G. C. Williamson, ‘Mr Francis Wellesley’s Collection of Miniatures and Drawings, Part II’, The Connoisseur, LII, no. 206, October 1918, pp. 68-69 (praised as ‘Another drawing by Faithorne, which rivals this one in beauty, is the portrait of Sir John Reresby which fortunately remains in its original silver frame, duly inscribed’).
G. C. Williamson, The Miniature Collector, London, 1921, p. 211 ('…the plumbago drawing in the Wellesely collection which he drew of Sir John Reresby was one of the finest examples of this art that I have ever seen..’).
Catalogue of the Miniatures and Portraits in Plumbago or Pencil belonging to Francis & Minnie Wellesley, Woking and London, 1918, pp. 42-43 (‘I regard this as the finest plumbago portrait that I have ever seen’).
J. J. Foster, A Dictionary of British Miniature Painters, London, 1926, p. 108 (‘Several examples in the Wellesely collection of plumbagos were attributed to him, of which the one of Sir John Reresby was considered a chef d’oeuvre. It realised £25 at the sale’).
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