Portrait of Lewis Watson, 2nd Earl of Rockingham (circa 1714-1745), bust-length

Details

Rosalba Carriera (Venice 1675-1757)
Portrait of Lewis Watson, 2nd Earl of Rockingham (circa 1714-1745), bust-length
signed (?) 'CR' and with inscription 'Cavaliere Inglese'
black chalk, pen and brown ink
7 3/8 x 5 1/8 in. (187 x 132 mm.)

Provenance

P. Huart (?) (L. 2083, on former mount).
Anon. sale; Christie's, London, 2 July 1996, lot 164.
Anon. sale; Sotheby's, New York, 27 January 1999, lot 128.

Literature

F. Russell, 'Drawings by Rosalba', The Burlington Magazine, March 1997, p. 197, fig. 60.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

A preliminary drawing for Rosalba's pastel portrait of Lord Rockingham formerly at Waldershare (B. Sani, Rosalba Carriera, Turin, 1988, no. 289, fig. 255). Lord Rockingham was at Padua on 24 November 1733, presumably en route for Venice, where he stayed until perhaps 23 April 1734, thus allowing a fairly precise dating for Rosalba's portrait. This drawing, together with a portrait of Teresa di Castelbarco, Contessa Simonetta, formerly in the collection of Sir Brinsley Ford, and another of William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, later 4th Duke of Devonshire, now in the Lehman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, appear to be finished works designed to be shown to the sitter as an example of what the artist sought to offer rather than working drawings (F. Russell, op. cit., pp. 197-8, figs. 61-2).

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