Portrait of William Helyar (d.1820), three-quarter-length, in an embroidered blue waistcoat and coat, holding a design for the Georgian wing of Coker Court, standing before a column

Details

Thomas Beach (Milton Abbas 1738-1806 Dorchester)
Portrait of William Helyar (d.1820), three-quarter-length, in an embroidered blue waistcoat and coat, holding a design for the Georgian wing of Coker Court, standing before a column
oil on canvas
49 ½ x 40 1/8 in. (145.8 x 102 cm.)
in an English 18th century carved and gilded Maratta frame

Provenance

By descent through the sitter's family at Coker Court, Yeovil, Somerset.
Colonel and Mrs Walker Heneage, by 1937.

Literature

E.S. Beach, Portraits by Thomas Beach Catalogue Raisonné, London, 1934, p. 63, no. 158.

Exhibited

Bristol, Royal West of England Academy, Art Treasures of the West Countries, 24 May - 26 June 1937, no. 125 (lent by Colonel and Mrs. Walker Heneage).

Special notice

All sold and unsold lots marked with a filled square in the catalogue that are not cleared from Christie’s by 5:00 pm on the day of the sale, and all sold and unsold lots not cleared from Christie’s by 5:00 pm on the fifth Friday following the sale, will be removed to the warehouse of ‘Cadogan Tate’. Please note that there will be no charge to purchasers who collect their lots within two weeks of this sale.

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

View condition report

Lot Essay

Although traditionally attributed to William Chambers, Howard Colvin notes that Joseph Dixon (d.1787) designed the Georgian wing at Coker Court for William Helyar in 1766 (H. Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, New Haven and London, 1995, p. 306). Coker Court has its origins in the Middle Ages and remained in the Courtenay family until 1591 and changed hands three times in the following 25 years, the last being to Achdeacon Helyar in 1616, with whose descendants it remained.

More from Old Master & British Paintings

View All