Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A. (Plympton, Devon 1723-1792 London) and Studio

Portrait of Frederick William Ernest, Count von Schaumburg-Lippe (1724-1777), three-quarter-length, in the blue uniform of a Hanoverian Field Marshal with the ribbon of the Black Eagle of Prussia, a battle beyond

Details

Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A. (Plympton, Devon 1723-1792 London) and Studio
Portrait of Frederick William Ernest, Count von Schaumburg-Lippe (1724-1777), three-quarter-length, in the blue uniform of a Hanoverian Field Marshal with the ribbon of the Black Eagle of Prussia, a battle beyond
oil on canvas
56 x 44½ in. (142.2 x 113 cm.)
In an elaborately carved and gilded frame hung with swags, lion masks and surmounted by a cartouche cresting with a trophy or arms.
The frame inscribed 'HIS HIGHNESS, THE REIGNING COUNT of SCHAUMBOURG LIPPE MARS^L. GENER^L. and Commander in Chief of the Armies of his most Faithfull MAJESTY, FIELD MARSHALL of his Britanick MAJESTY'S Electoral Troops &c'

Provenance

Braddyl; Christie's London, 23 May 1846, lot 40 (66 gns. to lord C. Townshend'
Lord Charles Vere Townshend; Christie's London, 13 May 1854, lot 46 (unsold).
Lord Charles Vere Townshend; Christie's London, 17 June 1864, lot 41 (to Smith, Bond Street).
Acquired from Leggatt Brothers, London, in 1923, by Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray.

Literature

A. Graves and W. Cronin, A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, London, 1899-1900, II, p. 560.
E.K. Waterhouse, Reynolds, London, 1941, p. 55.
O. Millar, Later Georgian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London, 1969, I, p. 105.
C. Anson, A Catalogue of Pictures and Drawings in the Collection of The Viscount Cowdray, London, 1971, p. 16, no. 45, plate 32, as 'Sir Joshua Reynolds' (in the Dining Room).
D. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds, A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, New Haven and London, 2000, I, p. 308, no. 1132a, as a copy.

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Lot Essay

Frederick, Count Von Schaumburg-Lippe (1724-77) was closely related to the House of Hanover through his mother, the daughter of King George I and the Duchess of Kendal. He served as Commander of the Artillery under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick in the Seven Years War and in 1761 he commanded the English troops sent to the defence of Portugal. Reynolds' sitters books reveal that he sat to the artist on 23rd of October 1764 and on 3rd and 5th of August 1767. This portrait is a three-quarter-length version of the full-length portrait, which may have been executed for George, 1st Marquess of Townshend (d.1807), now in the Royal collection at St. James's Palace. The latter picture is first recorded in the Royal Collection in 1816 when it was in the Crimson Drawing-Room at Carlton House: It was sent to St. James's on November 1830. The Cowdray version differs from the Royal collection portrait in that the flag is decorated with the French Fleur-de-Lis, and the cannon that appears in the Royal Collection picture is omitted, although one can be seen firing in the distance of the present composition.

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