Thomas Gainsborough, R.A.

By descent to the sitter's grandson, Rev.d James Haviland (1772–1830);

His descendant's sale, London, Christie's, 19 July 1875, lot 227, for £10.10s to Lesser;

Colonel Hillway, by 1889;

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 19 March 1898, lot 165, for £39.18s to McLean;

With Sedelmeyer, Paris;

With Edward Brandus, New York;

His sale, New York, James P. Silo, 12–14 March 1906, lot 182, where unsold;

His sale, New York, Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, 17–18 April 1907, lot 133, where unsold;

His sale, New York, Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, 1–3 April 1908, lot 114, possibly unsold;

J.O. Mathieson;

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 20 June 1919, lot 68 (as attributed to Gainsborough), for £714 to Crementi;

Anonymous sale, London, Motcomb Galleries, 7 November 1962, lot 270, for £68 to Sabin;

Thence by descent.

S. Sloman, Gainsborough in Bath, New Haven and London 2002, pp. 109–11, fig. 94, reproduced;

H. Belsey, Thomas Gainsborough, New Haven and London 2019, vol. I, p. 455, no. 461, reproduced. 

Commissioned in about 1770, this elegant portrait depicts James Haviland, an apothecary from Bath. He inherited the family business that year, following his father's death. The latter, Thomas Haviland (c. 1706–1770), was also painted by Gainsborough. His portrait is now in the National Museum, Stockholm.¹ James Haviland was also painted by Thomas Beach in a three-quarter-length likeness.² This work was last recorded at auction in 1965, erroneously attributed to Thomas Gainsborough.³

¹ Inv. no. NM 2100; oil on canvas; 129 x 103 cm.; https://collection.nationalmuseum.se/eMP/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=19160

² E.S. Beach, Thomas Beach: A Dorset Portrait Painter, London 1934, p. 63, no. 143.

³ Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 7 April 1965, lot 201, for £110 to Klein (as attributed to Thomas Gainsborough).