George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria)
All sold and unsold lots marked with a filled squa… Read more PROPERTY OF A DECEASED ESTATE (LOTS 424 & 517)
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria)

Portrait of John Sparling (d. 1778), half-length, in a black coat

Details
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria)
Portrait of John Sparling (d. 1778), half-length, in a black coat
oil on canvas
36 ¼ x 28 ¼ in. (92.2 x 71.6 cm.)
Provenance
By descent through the sitter's family to the present owner.
Literature
H. Ward and W. Roberts, Romney: a biographical and critical essay, with a catalogue raisonné of his works, London, 1904, II, p. 148.
J. Longmore, 'Civic Liverpool' in J. Belchem, et al., Liverpool 800, Liverpool, 2006, p. 137, illustrated.
Special notice
All sold and unsold lots marked with a filled square in the catalogue that are not cleared from Christie’s by 5:00 pm on the day of the sale, and all sold and unsold lots not cleared from Christie’s by 5:00 pm on the fifth Friday following the sale, will be removed to the warehouse of ‘Cadogan Tate’. Please note that there will be no charge to purchasers who collect their lots within two weeks of this sale.

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Lot Essay

The piece of wood attached to the reverse of the canvas is very likely to have come from the painting’s original stretcher. The inscription is presumed to be by Romney’s hand and states the name of the sitter, his first sitting and the ledger number 483. Ward and Roberts list John Sparling’s sittings on the 12th, 22nd, 26th, 27th, 29th, 31st of July 1793. They have however misread the sitting of the 19th as the 12th. This portrait will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist’s paintings being prepared by Alex Kidson, to whom we are grateful for his assistance in the cataloguing of the picture.

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