Portrait of Robert Wynne of Garthewin

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Portrait of Robert Wynne of Garthewin
Portrait of Robert Wynne of Garthewin
Portrait of Robert Wynne of Garthewin
Private Collection
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Portrait of Robert Wynne of Garthewin
Date
1741
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Metric: 76.5 x 63.6 cm
Imperial: 30 1/8 x 25 in
Collection
Private Collection
Wilson Online Reference
P7
Description
Robert Wynne is shown half-length within a fictive oval at the age of nine. He wears a grey coat over a blue waistcoat with silver braided edges and at his neck a white stock and black ribbon. He holds a silver-braided hat under his left arm.
Provenance
Anon sale, Christie's 14 April 1989 (114); with David Cook, Rye, where purchased by the present owner; Bonham's, Knightsbridge, London, 10 April 2013 (62), bt in
Verso inscriptions
Inscribed in ink on a piece of old stretcher bar pinned to the present stretcher cross member:' Robert Wynne (the third present) of Garthewin Aet 9 | Richard Wilson Pinxit 1741. Possibly this text was copied from the reverse of the canvas before it was relined.
Subject
The Wynnes of Garthewin are an ancient Welsh family, a number of whom bore the Christian name, Robert. The present sitter (c.1732-1798) was born at Gresford, where his grandfather had been vicar. His birth was meticulously recorded by Hugh Lloyd (1688-1749), brother-in-law of Sir George Wynne of Leeswood (1700-56) and Vicar of Mold. (NLW 598E, 273, cited in Baker 1999, p.89, n. 27. 1). Lloyd's 'Daybook' documents his close friendship with the Wynnes of Garthewin and Wilson, fatherless after 1728, also benefited from his interest. Between 1767 and 1772 Robert Wynne enlarged the house at Garthewin built by his eponymous grandfather in about 1710. High Sheriff of Debighshire in 1769, he was later described as a 'cheerful companion, a steady friend, a good neighbour, and a truly honest man.'
Related Works by Other Artists
Thomas Gainsborough, Portrait of Robert Wynne, c.1772, The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth / Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru (PG 6765)
Bibliography
C. Hussey, 'Garthewin, Denbighshire', Country Life, 13 February 1958, pp. 298-301; H. Belsey, Thomas Gainsborough: The Portraits, Fancy Pictures and Copies after Old Masters, 2019, vol. 2, p. 893, cat. 968
More Information
Approximately 30 years after P7 was painted the sitter was depicted by Gainsborough in a portrait of similar size and closely similar composition. Hugh Belsey suggests that this portrait, together with one of his wife by Gainsborough, celebrated his inheritance of Garthewin in 1771.
Condition/Conservation
Kate Lowry has noted: The 'inscription' is in ink on a piece of an old stretcher bar pinned to the present stretcher cross member. Possibly it was copied from the reverse of the canvas before it was relined. The present lining probably dates from its last trip through the saleroom at Christies in 1989. Although the cracks in the face are retouched and there is some retouching around the edges of the face, hair and shoulders the work is in quite good condition and not heavily overpainted. Just one repaired tear in the boy's jacket. Under UV there is some retouching of the left sleeve and the paint on the hat has sunk. There is circular craquelure round the cuff area, suggesting perhaps pressure from behind.
Updated by Compiler
2020-11-06 00:00:00