Portrait of a member of the Chetwynd family, aged 4, full-length, in a richly embroidered green gown, a dog at his side, with a pochette and a game of skittles on a stool beside him

Details

THOMAS LEIGH (ACTIVE 1634–1656)
Portrait of a member of the Chetwynd family, aged 4, full-length, in a richly embroidered green gown, a dog at his side, with a pochette and a game of skittles on a stool beside him
oil on canvas
62 x 44 3⁄8 in. (157.5 x 112.7 cm.)
inscribed 'Ao. Dmi. 1637. / Æ^ts Suæ, 4.' (upper left) and with the coat of arms of the Chetwynd family (upper right); further inscribed 'Chetwynd / by / Tho..^s Leigh. / 1637.' (reverse, on the lining canvas)

Please note that 100% of the hammer proceeds from this auction will be paid to the Sandys Trust, registered charity number: 1168357, with the exception of limited deductions towards sale costs across the auction which cannot be accurately calculated at this time, capped at a total of £10,000.

Provenance

(Presumably) commissioned by a member of the Chetwynd family, and by descent in the family to,
Viscountess Blundell, née Mary Chetwynd (1680-1756) and by descent to her daughter,
Chetwynd Trumbull, née Blundell (1715-1766), and by descent to her daughter,
Mary Sandys, née Trumbull (1741-1769), and by descent to her daughter,
Mary, Marchioness of Downshire and 1st Baroness Sandys (1764-1836), and by descent to her second son,
Lieutenant-General Arthur Hill, 2nd Baron Sandys (1792-1860), and by inheritance to his younger brother,
Arthur Marcus Sandys, 3rd Baron Sandys (1798-1863), and thence by descent in the family to,
Richard Hill, 7th Baron Sandys (1931-2013), at Ombersley Court, Worcestershire.

Literature

(Possibly) Ombersley Court Inventory, c.1750-1775, Ombersley MS, as 'A Boy with a Dog by Mittins'.
J. Grego, Inventory of Pictures: Portraits, Paintings, etc., Ombersley MS, 1905, where listed in the 'Great Dining Hall'.
ONM / 1 / 2 / 7, journal entry for a visit to Ombersley Court, 25 August 1950, Oliver Millar Archive, Paul Mellon Centre, London, p. 21.
Ombersley Court Inventory, June 1963, annotated Ombersley MS, as 'Dutch School', where listed in the 'Staircase Hall'.
Ombersley Court Catalogue of Pictures, undated, Ombersley MS, p. 34, where listed in the 'Main Staircase Hall'.

Conditions of sale

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Adrian Hume-Sayer Director, Specialist

Lot Essay

This charming portrait of a young boy shows him surrounded by amusements; a game of skittles, a musical instrument, and his dog. It is presumed to be a portrait of a relation of Mary Chetwynd (see lot 128), the great-grandmother of Mary, Marchioness of Downshire. The Chetwynd family seat, Grendon Hall, Warwickshire, passed to Mary Chetwynd's daughter, Lady Robert Bertie (see lot 29).

Relatively little is known about the artist Thomas Leigh, but recent research has succeeded in determining at least 13 works by the artist (see S. Roberts & R. Tittler, 'Discovering 'T. Leigh': Tracking the elusive portrait painter through Stuart England and Wales', The British Art Journal, XI, no. 2, pp. 24-31). It is thought that Leigh was born in Cheshire, and possibly undertook an apprenticeship in London before soon returning to his home county after 'rescuing a prisoner from the bailiff of Whitechapel' (Roberts and Tittler, op. cit., p. 26). His surviving work mostly consists of portraits of members of the Welsh aristocracy, including the Heyton family, now at Trerice, National Trust. He is also known to have had a son, Thomas Leigh, who was a painter, and was first recorded in training in 1642 (Roberts and Tittler, op. cit., pp. 26-27).

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