Daniel Gardner

Sale, London, Bonham’s Knightsbridge, 2 May 2012, lot 199, as Portrait of a gentleman, his wife and their daughter, believed to be the Biddle Family;
from where acquired by the present owner

Neil Jeffares, A Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, on-line edition - J.338.1592

Best known for his small scale portraits, Gardner depicts here the young family of Captain James Ricketts (1754-1825). A captain in the 60^th Royal American Regiment of Foot, Ricketts and his family lived on his estate, Ridgeland, in Jamaica during the American Revolution, where they raised their family. His wife, Sarah Livingston, came from a prominent New York family and was the daughter of Peter van Brugh Livingston (1710-1792), a wealthy merchant who served as the first New York State Treasurer. The Livingston family, who migrated from Scotland to New York during the seventeenth century, were heavily involved in political circles, and Philip Livingston (1716-1778), grandfather of Sarah Livingston, signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The couple are shown here with their eldest surviving daughter, Maria Eliza (1783-1865). 

Another version of this portrait is in a private collection. We are grateful to Neil Jeffares for his help when cataloguing this lot.