John Constable, R.A. (East Bergholt 1776-1837 London)

Portrait of Elizabeth, Lady Croft (1754-1815), half-length, in a white dress, in a wooded landscape

Details

John Constable, R.A. (East Bergholt 1776-1837 London)
Portrait of Elizabeth, Lady Croft (1754-1815), half-length, in a white dress, in a wooded landscape
oil on canvas
30 ¼ x 25 in. (76.9 x 63.5 cm.)

Provenance

Commissioned by the sitter's sister, Magdalena, Countess of Dysart, by 1821, and bequeathed in 1832 to her brother,
Henry Greswold Lewis, Malvern Hall, Warwickshire, and by inheritance to,
John Francis Greswolde Lewis, and bequeathed in 1892 to,
Captain Thomas Suckling, and by descent to his widow,
Mrs. Florence Horatio Nelson Suckling, and by inheritance through the Wickstead family to,
Captain Hugh Gurney, Shakenhurst, Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire;
Sotheby's, London, 10 December 1925, lot 125 (11 gns. to Pawsey).
Anonymous Sale; Sotheby's, London, 7 April 1954, lot 93 (95 gns. to Leger).
Anonymous sale [The Property of a Lady]; Christie's, London, 10 April 1992, lot 25. (£20,000)
Anonymous sale [The Property of a Gentleman]; Sotheby's, London, 22 November 2007, lot 62, when acquired by the present owner.

Literature

R. Edwards, 'A Portrait by John Constable at the Tate Gallery', Burlington Magazine, no. 434, LXXIV, May 1939, pp. 204, footnote 8.
R.B. Beckett, John Constable's Correspondence: IV: Patrons, Dealers and Fellow Artists, Ipswich, 1966, p. 48.
G. Reynolds, The Early Paintings and Drawings of John Constable, New Haven and London, 1996, p. 117, no. 7.10, pl. 680.

Brought to you by

Lucy Cox

lcox@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2243

Lot Essay

At the beginning of September 1807, Constable was commissioned by the Dysarts of Helmingham Hall, Suffolk, to make copies of portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds, John Hoppner and Daniel Gardner. In this portrait Constable adapts to a half-length format, an oval portrait of Elizabeth Lewis picking flowers in a wooded landscape painted by Daniel Gardner, a work which is last recorded in the collection of Asher Wertheimer in 1921.

Elizabeth, Lady Croft (1755-1815), was a daughter of David Lewis of Malvern Hall, Warwickshire, and sister of Magdalena, Countess of Dysart, and Henry Greswold Lewis. On 25 September 1795, she married the author Sir Herbert Croft, 5th Bt.

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