Wigs on the Green - Portrait Miniatures

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Item Ref. 3336

GERMAN-AUSTRIAN SCHOOL, 1807

Meet the Hoecker (Höcker) Family! This is a rare opportunity to acquire a charming family group of seven early 19th century portrait miniatures: father, mother, two sons and three daughters. They are all painted in profile to the left and set against wonderful interior or landscape backgrounds with tasselled drapes or trees and statuary. Each portrait is backed with a later paper label hand-painted with a laurel wreath encircling the sitter's initials in monogram and their age ranging from seven to thirty-nine years.

The mother wears a blue dress with a white lace fichu and pretty lace hat trimmed with blue ribbon. The three girls (aged ten to fifteen) are strikingly alike and wear similar empire-line dresses with a sprig of flowers tucked in at the waist, their hair swept up at the back and secured with a decorative comb. The eldest boy (sixteen years old) is dressed just like his father in a black tail-coat, patterned waistcoat and white stock whilst the youngest boy, just seven years old, has a green coat.

The portraits are all painted on ivory and are individually framed in (close matching) pressed brass frames. Excellent condition.

Framed sizes: from 2 x 15/8" (52 x 43mm) to 27/8 x 23/8" (73 x 60mm)

Price: £3250

Item Ref. 3345

IRISH SCHOOL, circa 1765

This is a fine enamel portrait of a kindly-looking old gentleman, his face partly in profile. He is wearing a powdered bag wig, a brown coat haphazardly buttoned-up, and a white stock.

The enamel is in fine condition and is housed in the original gilt metal frame with a twist-effect hanger.

Framed size: 23/4 x 23/8" (72 x 60mm)

Price: £550

Item Ref. 3214

CHARLES FOOT TAYLER, active 1818-1853

This is an attractive half-length portrait miniature with a poignant story. The portrait is of a young lady, Frances Deane Grady, in a white wide-shouldered dress and heavy gold necklace with a pink rose tucked in to her belt. Her hair is arranged in ringlets and she stands on a balcony with a trailing plant and sky background.

Frances was the eldest daughter of Henry Deane Grady of Stillorgan Castle in Co. Dublin who was the Member of Parliament for Limerick City 1801-02. She married Arthur Blennerhassett of Ballyseedy in 1821. Sadly, she died in 1834 after giving birth to their ninth child - “The little stranger doomed never to behold a mother’s smiles, or feel the warm caresses of a mother’s care and tender solicitude”. [Kerry Evening Post, 12 March 1834].

Watercolour on ivory housed in a traditional papier-mâché frame with a brass surround and acorn hanger. Excellent condition.

Portrait to view: 33/4 x 23/4" (94 x 70mm)
Framed size: 6 x 47/8" (151 x 124mm)

S O L D !

Charles Foot Tayler was born in 1800. He lived on the Isle of Wight but subsequently moved to Bath where he married Ann Thomas, the daughter of a baker from Melcombe Regis in Dorset. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1820 and 1853. The use of stylised landscape backgrounds is a recognised feature of his work.

Item Ref. 2887

JOHN RUSSELL, RA (1745-1806)

A fine half-length portrait of a gentleman standing with his arms folded. He is wearing a blue double-breasted coat, a white waistcoat and a tied cravat. He has a powdered wig with a queue probably a pigtail. Powder from his wig has fallen on to his shoulder and the collar of his coat. Interestingly the portrait was taken just months before the introduction of the Hair Powder Tax which in effect killed off the fashion for wearing powdered wigs.

Watercolour on ivory, signed and dated on the obverse JR 1798. It is set in the original gold frame, the reverse with a plaited hair border and a gold RB monogram mounted on blue glass.

Framed size: 23/4 x 21/4" (72 x 57mm) + hanger

Price: £3200

The son of a book- and printseller, John Russell was a pupil of the painter Francis Cotes and entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1770. He was later appointed portrait painter to King George III. He was a passionate astronomer and a devout Methodist; indeed he apparently upset some of his sitters by trying to convert them. After 1790 Russell worked largely in Yorkshire where he is said to have produced his finest work. He died in 1806 of typhoid and is buried in Hull. Russell is widely known for his pastel portraits which are well represented in English galleries; he did not, however, paint many miniatures making this is a rare example.

Item Ref. 2539

ENGLISH SCHOOL

Although the artist of this portrait is unknown the sitter, Captain David Cheap, is well-known within naval history. He is shown here in a powdered wig (note the powder that fallen on to his collar), a navy double-breasted coat with gold buttons, and a neatly tied white stock. He is set against a clouded sky backdrop.

Watercolour on ivory housed in a later rose-gold frame with a solid reverse. Excellent condition.

Size: 21/4 x 13/4" (57 x 44mm)

Price: £750

David Cheap was Captain of HMS Wager which took part in Commodore Anson’s expedition in 1740/1 to attack Spanish ships. The Wager was wrecked off the coast of Chile and its crew marooned on a desolate island where the seamen disputed the Captain’s authority to command them on land. After five months most of the seamen set out one way while and the Captain’s faction (including Midshipman Byron) headed north. After many adventures, four of the party reached England. Naval discipline was revised as a result of the wreck.

Item Ref. 1843

WILLIAM NAISH (1766/7-1800)

A portrait of a young lady, possibly on her wedding day, wearing an Empire-line dress with a lace fill-in covering the décolletage, her brown curls peeping out from under a white veil which is trimmed with a blue ribbon. The tradition of a bride wearing "something blue" to symbolise her fidelity originated in ancient Israel.

Watercolour on ivory in an oval gilt metal frame glazed on the reverse to reveal the artist's trade card. Excellent condition.

Size: 2 x 1½" (50 x 39mm)

Price: £825

William Naish was born in Somerset and entered the RA Schools in 1788. His studio was close to Drury Lane and so actors and actresses made up a large part of his clientele. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1786 and 1800.

Cynthia McKinley
Wigs on the Green Fine Art, York
Tel. +44 (0)1904 794711 Mobile: 07962 257915
Email: enquiries@wigsonthegreen.co.uk