Attributed to William Aikman

J.E. Turner, 41 Myddleton Square, London;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 21 September 1979, lot 104 (as 'Richard the Earl of Burlington'), where unsold;
Simon Sainsbury (1930–2006), London;
His sale, London, Christie's, 18 June 2008, lot 290 (as attributed to Aikman), for £16,000.

Lord Burlington is believed to have been almost solely responsible for the design of the celebrated villa Chiswick House, in London. The view of the formal gardens at Chiswick House that we see here stretching out behind Lord Burlington seem to be based on Pieter Andreas Rysbrack's View of the Temple by the Water of circa 1727, now hanging in Chiswick House. The building within the apse at the end of the basin, and the building to the right of the gardener do not feature in Rysbrack's view, although they could have been appropriated from elsewhere in the grounds. William Aikman (1682–1731) is known to have painted other members of Lord Burlington's family, namely his wife Lady Burlington and her sister Mary Savile, Countess of Thanet, whose portraits hang in the Bedchamber at Chiswick. Aikman also painted, in 1723, a double portrait of Lord Burlington and his wife, now in the collection of the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston.¹

1. J. Wilton-Ely, 'Lord Burlington and the Virtuoso Portrait', Architectural History, vol. 27, p. 380, reproduced pl. 2.