Classic Design Including Property of the Marquess of Anglesey
Classic Design Including Property of the Marquess of Anglesey
The Property of the Marquess of Anglesey from the Private Apartment at Plas Newydd
Edwin Cooper
A pair of equestrian paintings: a chestnut charger and a white charger, both draped in the regimental horse furniture of the 7th Light Dragoons, accompanied by officers
No reserve
Lot Closed
April 11, 02:06 PM GMT
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
The Property of the Marquess of Anglesey from the Private Apartment at Plas Newydd
Edwin Cooper
British, 1785–1833
A pair of equestrian paintings: a chestnut charger and a white charger, both draped in the regimental horse furniture of the 7th Light Dragoons, accompanied by officers
a pair, one oil on canvas and the other oil on canvas laid on board
one unframed: 64.9 x 77.4 cm.; 25½ x 30½ in.
framed: 72.8 x 85.6 cm.; 28⅝ x 33¾ in.
the other unframed: 65 x 77.4 cm.; 25⅝ x 30½ in.
framed: 72.6 x 85.6 cm.; 28⅝ x 33¾ in.
(2)
Thomas Agnew & Sons, Valuation for insurance of the pictures and drawings, the property of the most Honourable the Marquess of Anglesey, at Uxbridge House, St. James' Square, Plas Newydd, and 8 Lees Mews, 2 February 1910, as at 8 Lees Mews, nos 28 and 31 (as English School and 'Cooper') (Bangor University Archives and Special Collections, PN/IX/3198);
Possibly Lofts & Warner, London, An inventory and valuation […] at Plas Newydd, Anglesey, 1948, p. 144, as part of the group of equestrian pictures in the large room, or by the centre table (private family archive);
Possibly D. Taylor, Edwin Cooper of Beccles 1785–1833, Leigh-on-Sea 1980, p. 53, no. 20 (only one of the pair mentioned).
Possibly Norwich, Norwich Society of Artists, Horse-Portrait-Painter, no. 249 (only one of the pair mentioned).
The monogram in the corner of the schabraque draped over the chestnut charger, which reads CR, doubled and reversed with a crown above, demonstrates that these horsemen were members of the 7th Light Dragoons: the regiment of Her Majesty Queen Charlotte (1744–1818). These pictures portray the horse furniture of the regimental colonels. The white charger draped in tiger skin belonged to an officer of one of the Troop, while the horse wearing the schabraque with a leopard skin saddle cover was that of a senior Non-Commissioned Officer.
Cooper was certainly patronised by the 7th Light Dragoons: another painting by the artist, that is now in the National Army Museum, London, depicts Sergeant-Major Arthur Myers, a senior Non-Commissioned Officer from this regiment, with his charger, which is draped with a schabraque featuring the same CR monogram in exactly the same position.1 The pale blue-grey flamme (wing) that can be noted on Myers’ mirliton cap also appears on the cap of the man holding the white charger in the present pair of paintings. The National Army Museum picture, which is likewise comparable in its depiction of the background, is dated 1805, providing approximate dating for this pair.
We are grateful to Dr. Andrew Cormack for identifying these figures as members of the 7th Light Dragoons and for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.
1 Accession no. NAM. 2020-11-11-1-1; https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=2020-11-11-1-1. See S. Wood, '“As Gallant a Soldier as ever drew Sword” – Lieutenant and Adjutant Arthur Myers, 7th (or The Queen’s Own) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Hussars)', in Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, vol. 98, Winter 2020, pp. 337–47.