John Wootton (Snitterfield, Warwickshire c. 1682-1764 London)
John Wootton (Snitterfield, Warwickshire c. 1682-1764 London)
1 More
This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal.… Read more Property from T.R.H. The Dukes of Gloucester
John Wootton (Snitterfield, Warwickshire c. 1682-1764 London)

Portrait of a gentleman, traditionally identified as William, Duke of Cumberland (1721-1765), on a dark bay hunter with a hound

Details
John Wootton (Snitterfield, Warwickshire c. 1682-1764 London)
Portrait of a gentleman, traditionally identified as William, Duke of Cumberland (1721-1765), on a dark bay hunter with a hound
signed 'JWootton' (lower left, 'JW' in ligature)
oil on canvas
49 x 53 3/8 in. (124.4 x 135.6 cm.)
Literature
C. Hussey, Barnwell Manor, Northamptonshire – Part II, Country Life, 17 September 1959, p. 300, fig. 7, illustrated in situ in the dining-room.
Special notice
This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.

Brought to you by

Adrian Hume Sayer
Adrian Hume Sayer

Lot Essay

Wootton, the pre-eminent painter of landscape and sporting subjects in England in the first half of the eighteenth century, was described in the Notebooks of the antiquarian and engraver George Vertue as ‘well beloved by a great number of noblemen and gentlemen’, and as in ‘great Vogue & favour with many persons of ye greatest Quality’ (G. Vertue, Notebook, The Volume of the Walpole Society, XXII, 1933 pp. 30 and 34). Amongst his great patrons were the King, George II, and his son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, as well as the Dukes of Beaufort, Devonshire, Newcastle and Bedford, to name but a few.

This imposing equestrian portrait is a wonderful example of Wootton’s popular approach to composition, which set the elegant form of the horse and rider against a verdant landscape framed by the repoussoir trees, a motif inspired by the fashionable landscapes of Gaspard Dughet. The sitter has traditionally been identified as Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, third son of George II. His courage and physical prowess, evident from an early age, swiftly made him the apple of his father’s eye. Though originally intended for a naval career, his natural bent led him to join the First Regiment of Foot Guards in 1741, swiftly rising to become the ‘Captain-General’ of the allied British, Hanoverian, Austrian and Dutch forces in 1745, in the Wars of Austrian Succession. His most famous military action, however, was undoubtedly the decisive and bloody Battle of Culloden, which quashed Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Jacobite Rebellion of 1746.

However, various stylistic indications, such as the form of the signature and the composition of the landscape more closely aligned with Gaspard than Claude, whose idiom Wootton acquired in his later works, suggest that this portrait was likely executed prior to 1740. Given that Cumberland had not reached the age of twenty before this date, it is unlikely that he is in fact the sitter. Comparison with other portraits of the Duke also point away from this being his likeness. The colours that the sitter wears, the buff coat and dark blue of the horse’s saddle blanket indicate that he might be Henry Somerset-Scudamore, 3rd Duke of Beaufort. Wootton executed a number of works for Beaufort, including four horse portraits still in the collection at Badminton House, which holds more paintings by the artist than any other due to his early sponsorship by Anne, Countess of Coventry, daughter of the 1st Duke of Beaufort. The Beaufort Hunt still rides in these colours today.

More from Property from descendants of Their Majesties King George V and Queen Mary

View All
View All