Portrait of Mary (d. 1763), daughter of Charles Greene, and wife of Sir William Browne, three-quarter-length, in a silver dress

Details

THOMAS HUDSON (DEVONSHIRE 1701-1779 TWICKENHAM)
Portrait of Mary (d. 1763), daughter of Charles Greene, and wife of Sir William Browne, three-quarter-length, in a silver dress
signed and dated 'T. Hudson fecit / 1759' (centre left)
oil on canvas
50 x 39 7/8 in. (127 x 101.3 cm.)
inscribed 'Mary, D^r & Co-heiress of / Cha^s. Greene Esq.^r Lynn R^s. / Wife of Sir W^m. Browne. / ob 1763' (upper right)

Provenance

By descent from the sitter and her husband to their daughter,
Mary, wife of William Ffolkes, and by descent to their son,
Sir Martin Browne Ffolkes, 1st Bt. (1749-1821) Hillington Hall, Norfolk, and by descent in the family to,
Sir Robert Ffolkes, 7th Baronet (b. 1943) until at least 1979.
Anonymous sale; Sworders, Stansted Mountfitchet, 10 March 2015, lot 199.

Literature

Prince F. Duleep Singh, Portraits in Norfolk Houses, Norwich, 1928, I, p. 243, no. 1.
E. Davies King, The Life and Works of Thomas Hudson, doctoral dissertation, Courtauld Institute, 1938, no. 84.
E. G. Miles, Thomas Hudson (1701-79): Portraitist to the British Establishment, doctoral dissertation, Yale University, 1976, p. 75, no. 57, pl. 185.
E.G. Miles, Thomas Hudson 1701-1779. Portrait painter and collector, exhibition catlogue, London, 1979, under no. 25.

Special notice

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Brought to you by

Benedict Winter Director, Specialist

Lot Essay

Mary was the daughter of Charles Greene, an apothecary in Kings Lynn. In 1717 she married William Browne, a doctor, with whom she moved to London in 1749. William served as President of the College of Physicians in 1765 and 1766, having been a Fellow of the college since 1726. He was knighted in 1747. The present portrait was executed by Hudson as a pair with that of William; his portrait is in the collection of the Royal College of Physicians, London, inv. no. X71, having been gifted by the sitter in 1767.

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