Portrait of the Hon. Mrs William Townshend, three-quarter-length, in black and red masquerade dress, holding a mask in her right hand, a classical arcade beyond

Details

Thomas Gibson (c.1680-1751)
Portrait of the Hon. Mrs William Townshend, three-quarter-length, in black and red masquerade dress, holding a mask in her right hand, a classical arcade beyond
oil on canvas
50 x 40¼ in. (127 x 102.2 cm.)

Provenance

By inheritance in the family of the sitter at Honingham Hall, Norfolk, to Ailwyn Fellowes, 1st Baron Ailwyn (recorded at Honingham by Duleep Singh, op.cit., in 1911).
E. Spielman; Christie's, London, 13 November 1936, lot 71 (20 gns. to Howard).

Literature

Prince Frederick Duleep Singh, Portraits in Norfolk Houses, ed. Rev. E. Farrer, Norwich, 1927, I, p. 292, no. 57, illustrated opposite p. 280.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

The sitter was the only daughter and heir of Lord William Powlett. She married the Hon. William Townshend (1702-1738), of Honingham Hall, Norfolk, fourth son of Charles, 2nd Viscount Townshend, and his first wife Elizabeth, only daughter and heiress of Thomas, 1st Lord Pelham, on 29 May 1725. Her husband was A.D.C. to King George II, and Groom of the Bedchamber and Privy Purse to Frederick Prince of Wales.

Honingham Hall, where this picture was recorded in 1911 (see Duleep Singh, op.cit.), was built in 1605 by Chief Justice Thomas Richardson. At the beginning of the 18th Century it was acquired by the sitter's husband.

More from British Pictures 1500-1850

View All