Richard Crosse

seated on a pink upholstered chair, playing a cittern, wearing a blue dress trimmed with lace and a transparent white veil, silver-gilt frame set with cultured pearls

Miss M.F. McReddie, a descendent of the artist, her sale in these Rooms, 26 June 1978, lot 200

Ivory ground. Overall the work is in very good condition, with characteristic Crosse colours. The surface sheen on the background has been broken in several places. Between her neck and the margin there are two marks suggesting contact with water. Further, in the area around the head of the cittern and beside her right knuckle there are irregularities which could either be artist's pentimenti or later minor re-touching.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

When this miniature was sold by a Crosse family descendent in 1978 the sitter was tentatively identified as Elizabeth Cobley. In the same auction, and from the same source, there was another miniature, lot 195, firmly identified as Mrs Cobley, which clearly represents the same sitter.

Elizabeth Cobley was the daughter of John Crosse, of Knowle, near Cullompton, Devon, and sister of the painter of this miniature, Richard Crosse. She married her cousin, the Rev. John Cobley, son of Benjamin Cobley, rector of Dodbrooke, Devon. In the late 1770s Richard Crosse was greatly in love with Elizabeth's sister-in-law, Susan; she rejected his overtures, however, in favour of Benjamin Robert Haydon, a publisher from Plymouth. Crosse's disappointment fostered introversion, a state made more extreme in his having been born a deaf-mute. In Bath in 1808, after a lapse of thirty years, the artist encountered an ailing Mrs Haydon again. Her son, the painter Benjamin Robert Haydon, witnessed the emotional event and wrote about it in his Autobiography: '.... His anger, his frantic indignation, and his sullen silence at her long absence, all passed away before her worn and sickly face'.