Thomas Gainsborough* (1727-1788)

Portrait of Captain Phipps, half length, in Naval uniform

Details

Thomas Gainsborough* (1727-1788)
Portrait of Captain Phipps, half length, in Naval uniform
oil on canvas
30 x 25in. (76.2 x 64.2cm.)

Provenance

The Marquess of Normanby, Mulgrave Castle, sale, July 19, 1890, lot 19 (105gns. to Bourke).
Duchess of Marlborough from whom purchased by Sir Berkeley Sheffield, Normanby Park, Lincolnshire, sale ....., July 16, 1943, lot 42 (2,3oogns. to Gooden and Fox).
The Hon. Clive Pearson.
with Newhouse Galleries, New York.

Literature

Sir W. Armstrong, Gainsborough and his place in English Art, 1899, p. 200.
E. Waterhouse, Gainsborough, 1958, p. 84, no. 543.

Sale room notice

Please note that the attribution to this painting should read:
'Attributed to Thomas Gainsborough', and the provenance and literature listed in the catalogue does not apply to this picture.

Lot Essay

John Constantine Phipps (1744-1792) was the eldest son of Constantine Phipps and his wife Lepell, daughter of John, Lord Hervey. He entered the navy in 1760 having been elected a member of Parliament in 1768. In 1773, he commanded the racehorse which took part in the unsuccessful expedition to discover a norther route to India. In 1777 he was appointed one of the Lords of the Admiralty, and after his retirement in 1790, he was created Lord Mulgrave. He died at Linge on October 10, 1792.