Presumed Portrait of Lady [Martha] Hicks (1715-1802)

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Presumed Portrait of Lady [Martha] Hicks (1715-1802)
Presumed Portrait of Lady [Martha] Hicks (1715-1802)
Presumed Portrait of Lady [Martha] Hicks (1715-1802)
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713-1782)
Title
Presumed Portrait of Lady [Martha] Hicks (1715-1802)
Date
Inscribed on stretcher: 1736
Medium
Oil on canvas (unlined)
Dimensions
Metric: 76.5 x 64.1 cm
Imperial: 30 1/8 x 25 1/4 in.
Collection
Simon C. Dickinson, London
Wilson Online Reference
P232
Description
Against a grey-brown background within a fictive oval the sitter is shown half-length, full face, turned slightly to the left. She holds the spectator in an assured gaze. She wears a blue dress with a wide sleeve, raised to reveal a capacious white undersleeve with lace trimming. Her brown hair is surmounted by a covering of similar colour and she wears no jewellery. Around her neck is a brown fur stole, crossed in front and tied with a white bow.
Provenance
[?] Commissioned by the sitter’s husband, Sir Howe Hicks, 6th Bart (1722-1801); thence by descent at Witcombe Park, Gloucestershire; Chorley’s, Gloucester, ‘Portraits of a Cotswold Family’, 21 September 2022 (809 - English School, early 18th Century); Private Collection, UK; with Simon C. Dickinson Ltd, London, 2024.
Signature/inscription
Unsigned
Verso inscriptions
Ink inscription on the reverse of the right hand stretcher member which appears to read ‘Mrs Dr Brown 1736’, probably added by a later hand.
Subject
The sitter has been traditionally identified as Elizabeth Browne, née Bourne (baptised 1677/8 - 21 December 1766), a wealthy heiress of Wendlebury, Oxfordshire, who married the Revd John Browne (b. 1668) of Salperton Park, Gloucestershire, Rector of Coberley, Gloucestershire. Her daughter, Martha (1715-1802) now believed to be the sitter, married her father's ward, Sir Howe Hicks on 28 July 1739 and the couple lived at his ancestral home, Witcombe Park, Gloucestershire thereafter. The picture is recorded as being in the Witcombe Park collection and as depicting Mrs Browne in 1909.
Related Paintings
P227 Portrait of Martha Carter, Lady Aubrey, c.1745, Private Collection, London
P17 Portrait of Flora MacDonald, 1747, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
P17A Portrait of Flora Macdonald, 1747 (undated) National Portrait Gallery, London
P31 Captain Walter Griffith of Bron-Gain, c.1750, The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
Related Works by Other Artists
Henry Pickering [?]: Sir Howe Hicks and Lady Hicks (pendants), c.1739, Private Collection.
Critical commentary
This is an important hitherto unrecorded work by Wilson and addition to his small oeuvre of known portraits. On stylistic grounds he probably painted it about 1745 (rather than 1736 as per the verso inscription), perhaps to celebrate Martha's thirtieth birthday. By then she had already borne at least two children. The portrait is the first known connection between Wilson and the county of Gloucestershire. He could have painted it at Witcombe, on his way from Wales to London, or in the capital itself.
Bibliography
S.E.C. (Mrs William) Hicks Beach, A Cotswold Family: Hicks and Hicks Beach, London, 1909, pp. 266-67 (where identified as Elizabeth Browne, née Bourne).
More Information
Confusion over the sitter's identity probably originally stemmed from the inscription on the stretcher reading 'Mrs Dr. Brown 1736'.
Condition/Conservation
Kate Lowry has noted: Viewed in frame: carved gilt, unglazed and not backed. Said to be a matching frame to others fitted to paintings from the same private collection.
The painting support is unlined and is attached by its turnover edges to the outer edges of the stretcher with round headed tacks in their original positions. The pine wood stretcher is original to the work and consists of four members (w) 2½” x (t) 5/8” (65 x 17 mm). There is no bevel on the inside of the stretcher members and there is no provision for keying out the stretcher, the corner joints being fixed mortice and tenon. The canvas however is well in plane, not slack or buckled at corners, although pronounced vection cracks are visible in the painting along the lines of the inner edges of the stretcher members. There is an ink inscription on the reverse of the right hand stretcher member which appears to read ‘Mrs Dr Brown 1736’ probably added by a later hand.
The canvas support is linen, very fine simple weave and in good condition, with no tears or patches. Its turnovers are also in good condition with no splits or tears around the forward edge or around the tacks. The lower and right hand canvas turnovers are selvedges. The lower edge is bare of ground at its outer edge, whilst the right hand turnover is entirely bare of ground and the tacks are inserted through the bare canvas. There are no inscriptions on the verso of the canvas. The verso clearly shows the extensive network of mature cracks in the paint film and ground, where varnish applied to the face of the painting has penetrated to the support through those cracks.
The oil ground or priming is clearly a commercial preparation applied to a larger length of linen canvas and this piece then cut from one corner of it before being attached to the stretcher. It appears to be white or pale grey in colour, although the turnovers are very dusty, so it is difficult to be sure of this.
The paint film is oil bound and generally in good condition, stable in spite of the network of mature cracks. The edges of the cracks are only slightly raised and there is no sign of flaking or loss caused by the craquelure. Under UV light it is clear that the area of the face has been recently cleaned. The face is in very good condition with only minor retouches applied; most of the neck has been lightly covered with a glaze of retouching and the left hand side of the neck has been strengthened. The sitter’s body and clothing are also in good condition. The whole of the background, which does not appear to have been cleaned during the most recent restoration, bears a layer of old natural resin varnish. The inner part of the background oval has been rather messily overpainted. The sitter’s hair has not been cleaned and it is not clear whether she is wearing a small black lace ‘mantilla’ on top of her hair or whether this might just be poorly matched retouching. The face is painted in the style characteristic of Wilson with the grey underpainting being left exposed in the final painting to form the mid tones around the mouth and the eyes. The handling of the face appears to be an excellent example of Wilson at his technical best.
Updated by Compiler
2024-09-26 00:00:00