Double portrait of Elizabeth and Thomas Trower in a landscape, full-length with a dog, he in light brown robes, she in a white dress and hat with a blue ribbon

Details

William Hoare of Bath (1706-1792)
Double portrait of Elizabeth and Thomas Trower in a landscape, full-length with a dog, he in light brown robes, she in a white dress and hat with a blue ribbon
indistinctly signed and dated '1773' (lower right)
oil on canvas
54 x 43 in. (137.2 x 109.2 cm.)

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Lot Essay

William Hoare was the first fashionable portraitist to settle at Bath. He moved there in 1738, having spent nine years in Italy studying under Grisoni and Imperali. His portraits in both pastel and oil were univerally admired - as early as 1740 Vertue praised his 'manner of colouring and his disposition of heads'. His success at Bath remained unchallenged until the arrival of the young Gainsborough in 1759. This charming double portrait of the children of Thomas Trower of Chapton, Middlesex, is a rare example of Hoare's late work and shows the influence of Gainsborough's late Bath-period style. The composition is closely related to Gainsborough's portrait of Robert and Susannah Charlton as children (Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, Virginia) of circa 1772.

The present work is to be included in Evelyn Newby's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of works by the artist.

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