HOTUNG | 何東 The Personal Collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung | Part II: Day
HOTUNG | 何東 The Personal Collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung | Part II: Day
Portrait of Miss Forbes, half-length, wearing a white dress with a blue sash
Auction Closed
December 8, 05:58 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
George Romney
Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashrire 1734 - 1802 Kendal, Cumbria
Portrait of Miss Forbes, half-length, wearing a white dress with a blue sash
oil on canvas
unframed: 96.8 x 83.8 cm.; 38⅛ x 33 in.
framed: 77.5 x 62.8 cm.; 30½ x 24¾ in.
Initially commissioned from Romney in 1792, this charming portrait depicts the youthful Miss Forbes. She was the daughter of Major Hugh Forbes of the Royal Horse Guard and wife to Thomas Weston of Clay Hill, Middlesex, whom Romney painted in, or shortly before, 1795.1As Miss Forbes, the sitter is recorded as having had four appointments with the artist between 3 and 8 August 1792. She then re-appears as Mrs Weston in 1795 as having two additional appointments, respectively on 10 and 21 May. Kidson argues that the long gap between the groups of sittings suggests that whoever commissioned the portrait originally must have died, and that the portrait was resumed after Miss Forbes' marriage, in conjunction with a pendant of her husband.2
1 Kidson 2015, vol. II, p. 627, no. 1400.
2 Both portraits were sold at Christie's, London, on 29 June 1878 as consecutive lots. The sale also included another portrait attributed to Romney of 'Captain Forbes', said to be Miss Forbes' brother (Kidson 2015, vol. I, p. 222, no. 465b), and two other portraits of male members of the Forbes family by an unknown artist.