Lot Essay
Traditionally identified as Captain Stables, or as Mr Scott in the files of Agnew's. More recent expertise suggests that this portrait could possibly be one of an intended pair of marriage portraits of Captain Stables following his marriage to Dorothy in 1773, however a later portrait of the Captain from 1777 bears little resemblance to the present sitter (Kidson, ibid., p. 724), so it is likely the actual sitter will remain unknown.