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Lot Essay
Henry Boyle was the eldest son of William Boyle, younger brother of the 1st Earl of Shannon, and the great-grandson of Roger, 1st Earl of Orrery. Military service was a family tradition: the sitter's grandfather, the Hon. Henry Boyle, died while on service with the Duke of Marlborough in Flanders; the sitter's father had been a Captain in the regiment commanded by William of Orange's lieutenant, the Duke of Schomberg; and Henry Boyle took a commission as an officer in the cavalry.
Anthony Lee had a considerable practice in Dublin in the first half of the 18th Century, where he lived in a house in St. Stephens Green. Stylistically he is perhaps closest to the English portrait painter Stephen Slaughter (1697-1765) who spent much of his career in Ireland, but this early portrait seems to look more towards the work of his distinguished compatriot James Latham who is thought to have returned to Ireland from Antwerp in 1725. Lee's patrons included, among others, Joseph Leeson (1711-83), later 1st Earl of Milltown, of whom his full-length portrait, signed and dated 1735, is in the National Gallery of Ireland, and other members of the Milltown family (see S. Benedetti, The Milltowns a Family Reunion, catalogue to the exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1997, pp. 14-19). This portrait is the earliest known work by the artist.
Anthony Lee had a considerable practice in Dublin in the first half of the 18th Century, where he lived in a house in St. Stephens Green. Stylistically he is perhaps closest to the English portrait painter Stephen Slaughter (1697-1765) who spent much of his career in Ireland, but this early portrait seems to look more towards the work of his distinguished compatriot James Latham who is thought to have returned to Ireland from Antwerp in 1725. Lee's patrons included, among others, Joseph Leeson (1711-83), later 1st Earl of Milltown, of whom his full-length portrait, signed and dated 1735, is in the National Gallery of Ireland, and other members of the Milltown family (see S. Benedetti, The Milltowns a Family Reunion, catalogue to the exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1997, pp. 14-19). This portrait is the earliest known work by the artist.