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Lot Essay
The present drawing appears to relate to a work in the Royal Collection by Ponzone, which is signed and dated 1741 (RL 12055), which may be the prototype for this portrait type. According to a note with the image in the Heinz Archive the drawing by Ponzone was published in England in 1747. The present work also relates closely to a drawing in the National Portrait Gallery (no. 4535), which is catalogued as by or after Ponzone, however there is another version, previously in the collection of Mrs E. Mockler of Milton Manor House, which is catalogued as being by Giles Hussey (1710-1788), to whom the present work is stylistically close.
Hussey was in Rome between 1733 and 1737, during which time he was possibly acting as private secretary to Prince Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788), the Young Pretender, and certainly mixed in Jacobite circles. Jonathan Shackleton in his biography on Hussey mentions two drawings of the Old Pretender, executed while he was in Rome. Therefore the drawing may by Ponzone or alternatively the present work may be by Hussey, having seen the published print by Ponzone.
Hussey was in Rome between 1733 and 1737, during which time he was possibly acting as private secretary to Prince Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788), the Young Pretender, and certainly mixed in Jacobite circles. Jonathan Shackleton in his biography on Hussey mentions two drawings of the Old Pretender, executed while he was in Rome. Therefore the drawing may by Ponzone or alternatively the present work may be by Hussey, having seen the published print by Ponzone.