John Wootton

Probably commissioned by the sitter, and by descent to his son James Hamilton, 6^th Duke of Hamilton and 3^rd Duke of Brandon (1724-1758);
Probably by descent to his son, James Hamilton, 7^th Duke of Hamilton and 4^th Duke of Brandon (1755-1769);
Probably by inheritance to his brother, Douglas Hamilton, 8^th Duke of Hamilton and 5^th Duke of Brandon (1756-1799);
Proabably inheritance to his uncle, Archibald Douglas-Hamilton, 9^th Duke of Hamilton and 6^th Duke of Brandon (1740-1819), who is the first recorded owner of the picture;
By inheritance to his daughter Lady Charlotte, who married Edward St. Maur, 11^th Duke of Somerset (1775-1855);
By descent to their son, Edward Adolphus St. Maur, 12^th Duke of Somerset (1804-1885), as part of the Stover Collection;
Stover Collection sale, London, Christie's, 28 June 1890, lot 23, for 25½ gns. to Ramsden (as an unidentified gentleman);
Sir John Frenchville Ramsden, 6th Bt. (1877-1958), the grandson of the 12th Duke of Somerset, at Bulstrode Park, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire;
His sale, London, Christie's, 27 May 1932, lot 131, for 52 gns. to Arthurton (as an unidentified gentleman);
Purchased from the above by Maxwell Raison, Esq. (1901-1988);
His sale, London, Sotheby's, 19 July 1985, lot 6, for £28,000 to the present owner (as said to be the Duke of Somerset).

STRUCTURE The canvas has been lined. PAINT SURFACE The painting appears to be in very good condition, with no apparent extant damage or loss of paint. There is some extremely minor old retouching to frame abrasion to the edges of the canvas. ULTRAVIOLET Examination under ultraviolet light reveals a small amount of scattered minor infilling to craquelure, and some minor scattered retouching to background areas in the lower section of the painting. There is some minor strengthening to the horse's main, and UV confirms the retouching to frame abrasion mentioned above. FRAME Held in a gilded classical style wooden frame. To speak to a specialist about this lot please contact Julian Gascoigne on +44 (0)207 293 5482, or at julian.gascoigne@sothebys.com, or Ludo Shaw Stewart on +44 (0)207 293 5816, or at ludovic.shawstewart@sothebys.com.
"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."

Previously thought to portray an unknown gentleman, and at one stage said to be a portrait of the Duke of Somerset, this painting can almost certainly be correctly identified as a portrait of James Douglas-Hamilton, 5^th Duke of Hamilton and 2^nd Duke of Brandon in the hunting field. The earliest record of the painting is in the Stover sale catalogue, among property sold from the estate of the late Edward Adolphus, 12th Duke of Somerset, where it is recorded as 'from the Duke of Hamilton's Collection'. Somerset was the grandson of Archibald Douglas-Hamilton, 9^th Duke of Hamilton and 6^th Duke of Brandon, via his mother Lady Charlotte. The present picture must therefore have formed part of the chattels she inherited following her father's death in 1819.

The 9^th Duke of Hamilton was born in 1740, and would have been 24 years old when Wootton died in 1764, making him an unlikely candidate for this portrait of a middle aged man, painted circa 1730.¹ However Hamilton's father, James Douglas-Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton and 2nd Duke of Brandon, seems an altogether more likely candidate. A keen sportsman, it was the 5th Duke who engaged the Scottish architect William Adam to complete the state rooms at Hamilton Palace, as well as commissioning him to design the magnificent Châtelherault Hunting Lodge. Built between 1732 and 1744, complete with banqueting room, kennels, and stabling for the Duke's horses, Châtelherault was used for the Duke's hunting activities in the High Parks area of the Hamilton Palace estate, in South Lanarkshire, and is one of the finest examples of its type in Britain. The 5th Duke was also an important patron of Wootton's, and a signed picture by the artist of The Duke of Hamilton's Grey Racehorse, 'Victorious', at Newmarket, painted circa 1725, is in the Mellon Collection (New Haven, Yale Centre for British Art).

The identity of the sitter is further corroborated by comparison with a Portrait of the 5^th Duke of Hamilton, with his tutor, by John Alexander painted in 1724 (Hamilton Collection, Lennoxlove). A similar composition can be found in Wootton's Portrait of Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, which is signed and dated 1727 (Sackville Collection, Knole). See A. Meyer, John Wootton 1682-1764. Landscapes and sporting art in early Georgian England, Kenwood exhibition catalogue, London 1984, no. 17, p. 45, for a more detailed discussion of the composition.

1. Though undated the classicizing style of Wootton's signature this painting, as if chiselled into the architecture in Roman lettering, is typical of the artist's practice from the late 1720s, and for most of the 1730s (see A. Meyer, op.cit., 1984, p. 91