Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A.

Possibly given by the sitter's wife Lady Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1757–1806) to her close friend and fellow political hostess Frances Anne, Lady Crewe (1748–1818);
Possibly by descent to her son, John Crewe, 2nd Baron Crewe (1772–1835);
His son, Hungerford Crewe, 3rd Baron Crewe (1812–94);
By inheritance to his nephew, Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe (1858–1945);
Thence by descent.

London, British Institution, 1866, no. 143 (lent by Lord Crewe);
London, South Kensington, Second Special Exhibition of National Portraits, 1867, no. 474 (lent by Lord Crewe);
London, 25 Park Lane, 1931, no. 32;
Manchester, City Art Gallery, British Art Exhibition, 1934;
London, Royal Academy, Exhibition of British Art c.1000–1860; 1934, no. 288.

Manuscript Catalogue of Pictures at West Horsley, 4 vols, n.d., vol. I, p. 19 (listed as Crewe Collection);
A. Graves and W. V. Cronin, A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, 4 vols, London 1899–1901, vol. I, p. 247;
E. K. Waterhouse, Reynolds, London 1941, p. 58, reproduced pl. 118(B);
D. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds, A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, New Haven and London 2000, text vol., p. 126, no. 336, plates vol., reproduced p. 380, fig. 891.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Structural Condition The canvas has an old lining, with an inscription on the reverse of the lining canvas, and is structurally sound and secure. Paint Surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer which appears to have been quite recently applied. There is a very slight but entirely stable craquelure pattern. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows small scattered retouchings, the most significant of which are: 1) an area comprising of a number of small spots just above the sitter's right shoulder, 2) retouchings on the sitter's waistcoat which are most concentrated to the left of his white cravat, 3) a number of small spots on his blue coat and small scattered spots in the background. There are very minimal spots on the sitter's face, and one thin line on the lower left of his face. There is one larger area just to the right of his nose which measures approximately 0.5 x 1 cm. Inspection under ultra-violet light also shows the underlying varnish layers to be quite opaque and it may be that there are other retouchings beneath these older varnish layers that are not identifiable under ultra-violet light. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in very good and stable condition and no further work is required.
"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."

Painted over several months in 1766–67, when the sitter was in his late teens, this fine portrait depicts the young Duke on the cusp of manhood, shortly before he set off on his Grand Tour. His assured gaze and calm patrician bearing belie his lack of years, and display the youthful confidence of one who was possibly the foremost aristocrat of his generation. Beautifully painted, and elegantly restrained, the painting is a masterful portrayal of Georgian gentility, and the epitome of mid-eighteenth-century refinement.    

The 5^th Duke of Devonshire was the eldest of four children of William Cavendish, 4^th Duke of Devonshire (1720–64), and his wife Charlotte Elizabeth Boyle, Baroness Clifford (1731–54), daughter and heiress of the ‘Architect Earl’, Richard Boyle, 3^rd Earl of Burlington (1694–1753). His parents both died when he was still a boy and, inheriting the Duchy, together with a vast inheritance which included Chatsworth House and Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, Londesborough House and Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire, Lismore Castle in Co. Waterford, Chiswick House in Middlesex, and Devonshire House and Burlington House in Piccadilly, at such a young age the Duke was brought up by his three bachelor uncles, Lords Frederick, George and John Cavendish. In 1767, just a few months after this portrait was completed, he set off for the Continent to complete his education. In April 1768 he reached Italy, visiting Turin, Venice, Florence, Naples and Rome, where he sat to Batoni for his portrait (Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth). Back in England, in 1774, Devonshire married the gregarious Lady Georgiana Spencer, eldest daughter of John, 1^st Earl Spencer (1734–83). Whilst the marriage united the scions of two of the leading Whig families in England, Georgiana and the Duke were ill-matched as a couple. Notoriously lethargic and reserved, though he clearly had an astute mind, the Duke possessed a greater affection for dogs than for people. His wife, on the other hand, who was a famous beauty, a leader of fashionable style, and an energetic political hostess and staunch campaigner for the Fox administration, became one of the most celebrated female figures of her generation. Both had numerous affairs, and the curious menage à trois in which they lived with Lady Elizabeth Foster, who was both the Duke’s principal mistress and the Duchess’s closest friend, scandalised and enthralled Georgian England in equal measure.  

In contrast to his wife’s political activism the 5^th Duke possessed no great political ambition, and though Devonshire House became the centre of the Whig establishment throughout the 1790s, he refused a cabinet office on three occasions. He took his hereditary duties seriously, however, and served as Lord High Treasurer of Ireland and Governor of Cork from 1766 to 1793, Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire from 1782 until his death, and in 1778 he served as Colonel of the Derbyshire Militia when Britain declared war with France. In spite of their differences Georgiana bore him three children: Georgiana (1783–1858), who married George Howard, 6^th Earl of Carlisle; Harriet (1785–1862), who married Granville Leveson-Gower, 1^st Earl Granville; and William George Spencer Cavendish, future 6^th Duke of Devonshire (1790–1858), the famous collector and patron of the arts known as the ‘Bachelor Duke’ (see lot x). By his mistress, Lady Elizabeth Foster, whom he later married as his second wife in 1809, he also had two illegitimate children: Caroline St Jules (1785–1862), who married the politician and writer Hon. George Lamb; and Admiral Sir Augustus William James Clifford, 1^st Bt. (1788–1877).

Appointments are recorded in Reynolds' Pocket Book for this portrait in October and November 1766. Further appointments are also recorded between January and April 1767, and a payment of £35 is recorded in the Leger on 12 May 1767. The early provenance of the picture is, as yet, unsubstantiated, and it is first recorded in the collection of Hungerford Crewe, 3^rd Baron Crewe, who lent the painting to the British Institution in 1866. Lord Crewe’s grandmother, Frances, Lady Crewe (1748–1818), wife of the 1^st Bt., was a close friend of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and a fellow political hostess, leader of fashion, and renowned beauty. As with Devonshire House, Crewe Hall in Cheshire, as well as her villa in Hampstead, became a centre for the Foxite Whig élite. Fox himself, Burke, Sheridan, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Canning, Charles Burney and Hester Thrale were all frequent visitors, and it seems likely that this portrait may have been a gift from one society hostess to another. Like the Devonshires, the Crewes were friends, as well as clients, of the artists they patronised, which included both Reynolds and Gainsborough. The 1^st Baron and his wife commissioned no less than eight portraits of themselves and their family from the former, including the celebrated portrait of their son known as Master Crewe as Henry VIII (Private Collection, on loan to Tate Britain, London), and they owned several subject pictures by the artist as well, including A Captain of Banditti (Private Collection), exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1772, and a copy of Rembrandt's The Tribute Money (untraced), as well as a Self Portrait of the artist (see previous lot). Upon the 3^rd Baron’s death in 1894 this picture was inherited, along with the contents of Crewe Hall, by his nephew, Robert Crewe-Milnes, Baron Houghton, later 1^st Marquess of Crewe, who was the son of his sister, Annabel Hungerford Crewe and her husband Richard Monckton Milnes, 1^st Baron Houghton (1809–85).