Francis Cotes, R.A.

William Delafield, London;

His posthumous sale, London, Christie's, 30 April 1870, lot 89 (as Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A.), for £220–10s.;

Where acquired by Sir Charles Mills, later Lord Hillingdon (1830–1898), London and Kent;

Thence by descent;

Until sold, London, Sotheby's, 26 March 2004, lot 26 (as Francis Cotes, R.A.);

With Richard Green, London;

Where acquired by the present owner.

A. Graves and W.V. Cronin, A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A., London 1899, vol. III, pp. 1061–62 (as Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A.).

Lady Anne Windsor was the daughter of Other Lewis Windsor, 4th Earl of Plymouth (1731–1771), and the Hon. Catherine Archer (d. 1790). She married the Rev. Sir Thomas Broughton, 6th Baronet (1745–1813), in 1787. 

Note on Provenance

This fine portrait was previously owned by Lord Hillingdon: one of the greatest connoisseurs of the nineteenth century. He formed a remarkable collection of furniture, porcelain and paintings, with a particular focus on eighteenth-century English pictures.

Lord Hillingdon owned a number of masterpieces by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792), including Mrs Abington as Miss Prue, today at the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven;¹ Caroline Cox, Lady Champneys; Theophila Palmer, Reading; and Miss Hickey, likewise at Yale; the latter sold in these Rooms in November 2003 for £1,293,600.² Other works from his collection, all of which appeared in the same November 2003 sale, included a portrait of Richard Tickell by Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788);³ a portrait of Mrs Cawardine and her son Thomas by George Romney (1734–1802);⁴ and a portrait of a Lady as Evelina by John Hoppner (1758–1810),⁵ which sold for £1,853,600, £408,800 and £173,600 respectively.

¹ Accession no. B1977.14.67; oil on canvas, 76.8 × 63.8 cm.; https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:5005.

² Accession no. B1976.7.188; oil on canvas, 73.5 x 60.5 cm.; https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:4999; London, Sotheby's, 27 November 2003, lot 11: (#11) Sir Joshua Reynolds P.R.A. 1723-1792.

³ Oil on canvas, 74.5 x 62 cm.; (#8) Thomas Gainsborough R.A. 1727-1788.

⁴ Oil on canvas, 75 x 62 cm.; (#9) George Romney 1734-1802.

⁵ Oil on canvas, 68.5 x 53.5 cm.; (#10) John Hoppner R.A. 1758-1810.