拍品专文
The label on the frame of this portrait identifies the sitter as Josiah Diston, but as he was born in 1667, thus making him only sixteen at the date of the portrait, it does not seem that the identity can be sustained, as the painting represents a man in his twenties or thirties.
Diston, a wool merchant and Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, acquired various properties in Epsom in 1713, possibly moving there himself at that date, and the reference on the frame presumably refers to one of these, Woodcote Grove in Chalk Lane. Another house, Mount Diston, named after its owner, and its exceptional grounds, is recorded in John Toland's A New Description of Epsom, published posthumously in 1726 (p 98ff.) Woodcote Grove was built in the 1680's by William Clinch, 'Citizen and vintner of London', but whether Diston was involved with the actual building of Woodcote Grove, and the date it was built, are both uncertain; certainly no house on the site appears in the manorial survey 1680 (see H.L. Lehmann, The Residential Copyholds of Epsom, p.288, ref. 14A1. Pevsner, however, records Woodcote Grove as a late 17th Century house of five bays and two storeys.
In 1726, following the loss of his fortune, Diston had to sell off all his property and retire, dying in poverty in 1737. In his History of Epsom, 1902, p.93, Home refers to Diston losing his fortune 'through expensive living and possibly some gaming', and consequently ruining himself, 'selling the property to a Mr. Garland ... Mr. Garland has, at his London House, a painting of Mr. Diston, probably by Sir Peter Lely, and one of Charles II which came out of Woodcote Grove'. This may possibly be a reference to the present picture if it was already wrongly identified at this date; the portrait of Charles II was recorded at Woodcote in an inventory carried out by the Department of the Environment in 1954.
Woodcote Grove, restored to its original state, is now offices.
We are grateful to Mr. Jeremy Harte, Curator of the Bourne Hall Museum, Epsom, for his help in cataloguing this picture.
Diston, a wool merchant and Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, acquired various properties in Epsom in 1713, possibly moving there himself at that date, and the reference on the frame presumably refers to one of these, Woodcote Grove in Chalk Lane. Another house, Mount Diston, named after its owner, and its exceptional grounds, is recorded in John Toland's A New Description of Epsom, published posthumously in 1726 (p 98ff.) Woodcote Grove was built in the 1680's by William Clinch, 'Citizen and vintner of London', but whether Diston was involved with the actual building of Woodcote Grove, and the date it was built, are both uncertain; certainly no house on the site appears in the manorial survey 1680 (see H.L. Lehmann, The Residential Copyholds of Epsom, p.288, ref. 14A1. Pevsner, however, records Woodcote Grove as a late 17th Century house of five bays and two storeys.
In 1726, following the loss of his fortune, Diston had to sell off all his property and retire, dying in poverty in 1737. In his History of Epsom, 1902, p.93, Home refers to Diston losing his fortune 'through expensive living and possibly some gaming', and consequently ruining himself, 'selling the property to a Mr. Garland ... Mr. Garland has, at his London House, a painting of Mr. Diston, probably by Sir Peter Lely, and one of Charles II which came out of Woodcote Grove'. This may possibly be a reference to the present picture if it was already wrongly identified at this date; the portrait of Charles II was recorded at Woodcote in an inventory carried out by the Department of the Environment in 1954.
Woodcote Grove, restored to its original state, is now offices.
We are grateful to Mr. Jeremy Harte, Curator of the Bourne Hall Museum, Epsom, for his help in cataloguing this picture.