SIR WILLIAM BEECHEY, R.A. | Portrait of Charles Small Pybus (1766-1810), half-length, wearing a dark coat and white stock
Lot Closed
May 7, 02:23 PM GMT
Estimate
6,000 - 8,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
SIR WILLIAM BEECHEY, R.A.
Burford, Oxon. 1753-1839 London
PORTRAIT OF CHARLES SMALL PYBUS (1766-1810), HALF-LENGTH, WEARING A DARK COAT AND WHITE STOCK
signed with monogram and dated centre left: WB / 1803; and inscribed on the reverse (possibly in the artist's hand): Charles Small Pybus Esqr./ painted by/ Sir William Beechey/ 1803
oil on panel
unframed: 75.6 x 62.9 cm.; 29¾ x 24¾ in.
framed: 96.5 x 82 cm.; 38 x 32 1/4 in.
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Acquired by the father of the previous owner in circa 1975.
Charles Small Pybus was MP for Dover from 1790, and was later Lord of the Admiralty (1791-97) and of the Treasury (1797-1803). This is one of two portraits of the sitter by Beechey, the other is in the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London (inv. no. DPG169).1
The sitter was born in the East Indies, the second son of a banker. He was educated at Harrow and at St. John's College, Cambridge. Pybus initially pursued a career in the law, having been called to the bar in 1789. He had a reputation for pomposity and Beechey was not charmed by his sitter: 'He was very vain of His knowledge of pictures, but in reality knew nothing abt. them.'2
1 https://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/explore-the-collection/151-200/charles-small-pybus/
2 The Diary of Joseph Farington, vol. XI, New Haven and London 1983, p. 3882.