Property of The Bass, Miami Beach to Benefit the John and Johanna Bass Art Acquisition Fund
John Hoppner, R.A.
Portrait of Lucius Concannon, Esq., M.P.
Auction Closed
May 22, 04:37 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property of The Bass, Miami Beach to Benefit the John and Johanna Bass Art Acquisition Fund
John Hoppner, R.A.
London 1758 - 1810
Portrait of Lucius Concannon, Esq., M.P.
oil on canvas
canvas: 49 ½ by 40 in.; 126.9 by 102.5 cm
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 8 May 1908, lot 118;
Where acquired by "Yates";
Sir William Hesketh Lever (1851-1925), Viscount Leverhulme, by 1917;
His estate sale, New York, Anderson Galleries, 18 February 1926, lot 148;
Where acquired by Ehrich Galleries, New York, for $2,000;
Clarice A. Blumenthal;
By whose estate sold, New York, Parke-Bernet, 21 April 1971, lot 214;
Where acquired by John and Johanna Bass, New York;
By whom donated to the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, in 1979 (inv. no. 1979.321).
W. McKay and W. Roberts, John Hoppner, R.A., London 1909, pp. 54, 332;
C. Reginald Grundy, "Lord Leverhulme's Pictures at 'The Hill,'" in Connoisseur 49 (September - December 1917), p. 190;
K. Garlick, in Paintings and Textiles of the Bass Museum of Art: Selections from the Collection, M.A. Russell (ed.), Miami Beach 1990, pp. 42-43, reproduced.
ENGRAVED
Murphy, mezzotint, circa 1785-1795.
According to McKay and Roberts, John Hoppner painted this portrait circa 1795-1805. The sitter is said to be Lucius Concannon (circa 1764-1823), recorded in the Eton College Register as a pupil from 1779 to 1783. He later served as a member of parliament for Appleby (1818-1820) and Winchelsea (1820-1823).
In his diary entry dated 21 January 1796, English painter and diarist Joseph Farington, a close friend of Hoppner, provides an amusing biography of this portrait’s sitter:
"Mr. Concann[e]n, who keeps the fashionable gaming house in Grafton Street, is an Irishman, and is nephew to a person who kept a great Snuff Shop in Dublin. This young man came to England, and married the daughter of a person reputed to have a great fortune, while to the young Lady He passed for a man in an affluent situation. The deception was mutual. Neither side had a fortune. Thus circumstanced the young couple went to Paris, where agreeable to the mode which prevailed before the revolution, they took an Hotel, saw much company, who were entertained at Petit-Soupers, and gaming went forward, by which Mr & Mrs Concann[e]n were maintained. In London they have established a similar plan. Mr Concann[e]ns wine and entertainments are the best & most expensive…”1
1 J. Farington, The Farington Diary, vol. I, London 1802, p. 135
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