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
George Romney
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.
Thence by descent;
By whom sold ('The Property a Lady: a member of the Forbes Family'), London, Christie's, 29 June 1878, lot 51, for 155 guineas to Agnews;
With Thomas Agnew & Sons, London;
William Lee, Downside, Leatherhead, by 1879;
Anonymous sale ('The Property of a Lady of Title'), London, Christie's, 22 June 1973, lot 176, for 1000 guineas to Leadbeater;
With Newhouse Galleries, New York;
From whom acquired by the present owner in 1974.
G. Paston, George Romney, London 1903, p. 193 (as dated 1789);
A. Graves, A Century of Loan Exhibitions, 1813–1912, London 1914, vol. III, p. 1117, no. 171;
H. Ward and W. Roberts, Romney, A Biographical and Critical Essay with a Catalogue Raisonné of his Works, London 1904, vol. II, pp. 56–57 (with incorrect biographical details);
A. Kidson, George Romney: A complete catalogue of his paintings, New Haven and London 2015, vol. I, p. 224, no. 269, reproduced.
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.