Henri-Pierre Danloux

Private collection, France;
D.A. Hoogendijk, Netherlands, by c.1957;
J.J. Post, Amstel, Amsterdam, by 1959;
bought by the present owner

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has a wax and resin lining probably from the sixties or seventies of the last century, with a slightly imperfect texture. The restoration is of the same period. The head has a few little retouchings to mute the craquelure in places, with wider retouching down the far side of the nose. The dark of the ribbon nearby on the far side of the head has been broadly strengthened, with some retouching also to the ribbon on the near shoulder. There is other minor strengthening around the outline of the head, and occasionally in the background, which has slight wear in places. There are no accidental damages, and the figure is generally in good condition. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Born at Leicester House, in London, on 14^th November 1743, Prince William Henry was the fifth child and third son of Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales (1707-1751) and his wife Augusta (1719-1772), daughter of Friedrich II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha.

Described by his sister Augusta, hereditary princess of Brunswick, in January 1765 as 'very much like[d] by the ladies', at the end of 1764 he embarked on an ardent courtship of the great society beauty Maria Waldegrave (1736-1807), the widow of James, 2^nd Earl Waldegrave and the niece of Horace Walpole. The couple were secretly married in a clandestine wedding at Gloucester's house in Pall Mall on 6^th September 1766, and Gloucester did not reveal the marriage to his brother, George III, until after his return from his first trip to Italy in 1772. Described by Walpole as 'beauty itself', Maria was the great rival of the scandalised society belle, Maria Gunning, Countess of Coventry, and was eight years the prince's senior. George III disapproved of his brother keeping a mistress, considering her influence bad for his brother's conduct, as well as his health. He consequently organised a series of continental tours for his younger brother beginning in 1769, during which Gloucester acted as an informal diplomatic representative, renewing or establishing personal connections between the British royal family and other European monarchies.

In 1771 Gloucester travelled to Italy under the alias of the 'Conte di Connaught', a device which did not prevent his progress abroad becoming a monotonous succession of receptions and celebrations. In Italy he sat to a number of artists for his portrait, including Pompeo Batoni (Royal Collection, Windsor Castle). In 1775 Gloucester was forced to return to Italy in voluntary exile, this time accompanied by his wife and daughter, Sophia, having revealed the truth of his marriage to the King. Following a period in Venice, where they were entertained with 'Turkish hospitality' by the eccentric Edward Wortley Montague, they travelled on to Rome where, on 15^th January 1776, Maria gave birth to a son, Prince William Frederick.

Gloucester returned to England in October 1777, following a tentative reconciliation with his elder brother, and in June 1780, following his offer of service during the Gordon riots, George III received him at court for the first time in eight years. By this time relations within the marriage were becoming strained and in the early 1780s Gloucester began an affair with his wife's lady-in-waiting, Lady Almeria Carpenter (1752-1809), whom Nathaniel Wraxall described in his Memoirs as 'one of the most beautiful women of her time'.

Henri-Pierre Danloux had studied initially with the genre painter Nicolas-Bernard Lépicié, following which he joined the studio of the history painter Joseph-Marie Vien. In 1775 he followed Vien to Rome where he worked for 10 years before returning to Paris. In 1789 his talent caught the attention of the French Royal family who sat to him, and by 1791 he was regularly exhibiting at the Paris Salon, until the French Revolution forced him to flee to London. In England he found equal favor as a portraitist to the British aristocracy, whose eminent patronage included that of the Duke of Buccleuch and George Keith Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith, as well as Prince William Henry.