Lot Essay
Sir Philip Perceval 2nd Bt., and his brother Sir John Perceval, 3rd Bt., were the first and third sons of Sir John Perceval, 1st Bt., (d. 1655) and his wife Catherine, daughter of Robert Southwell of Kinsale (d. 1679). John succeeded his eldest brother who died unmarried in 1680, the second brother Robert having been murdered in the Strand three years earlier. He married Catherine, daughter of Sir Edward Dering, 2nd Bt. in 1680, and was succedded by his son Edward who was in turn succeeded by his brother John, who was later created 1st Earl of Egmont in 1733.
As Crookshank and The Knight of Glin note (op. cit), very few works by Pooley survive in sufficiently good condition to give a clear idea of his style, although the handling of the drapery in these pictures closely resembles that in a documented copy he made after Lely of Lady Southwell, now in the Bristol Art Gallery. Born in Ipswich, he went to Dublin with his family, where his father was an attorney. He studied law in London and may have learnt and practised painting there. He is known to have been back in Dublin by 1677/8, and painted three portaits of King Charles II and King William and Queen Mary for the Corporation in 1682. He was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke in 1683.
The Perceval family were important Irish patrons of the arts and Sir John recorded visiting Pooley on 5 February 1686. Shortly afterwards his agent, William Cooper, wrote on 13 March 1686 'Mr Pooley made me pay £24 for your picture and frame, which I'm told is £5 more than he usually takes: but he insisted upon it and said he has not had less than £20 for a picture of that size this seven years' (Egmont MSS, II, pp. 144-5).
As Crookshank and The Knight of Glin note (op. cit), very few works by Pooley survive in sufficiently good condition to give a clear idea of his style, although the handling of the drapery in these pictures closely resembles that in a documented copy he made after Lely of Lady Southwell, now in the Bristol Art Gallery. Born in Ipswich, he went to Dublin with his family, where his father was an attorney. He studied law in London and may have learnt and practised painting there. He is known to have been back in Dublin by 1677/8, and painted three portaits of King Charles II and King William and Queen Mary for the Corporation in 1682. He was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke in 1683.
The Perceval family were important Irish patrons of the arts and Sir John recorded visiting Pooley on 5 February 1686. Shortly afterwards his agent, William Cooper, wrote on 13 March 1686 'Mr Pooley made me pay £24 for your picture and frame, which I'm told is £5 more than he usually takes: but he insisted upon it and said he has not had less than £20 for a picture of that size this seven years' (Egmont MSS, II, pp. 144-5).