ENOCH SEEMAN (DANZIG C. 1694-1744 LONDON)

This group portrait was recorded in the same position over the chimney in the Saloon at Ombersley Court from circa 1750 to the 21st century. Letitia Sandys, née Tipping (see lot 101), is shown next to two of her children; Edwin, who later became 2nd Baron Sandys (see lots 96 and 191), and Cheke. Edwin and Cheke were the eldest of 10 children Letitia and her husband, Samuel Sandys, 1st Baron Sandys, had together. An 18th century Ombersley account book kept by Richard Callowhill gives an insight into their fulfilling childhood, including orders for ‘Fiddeles for masters’, ‘the welch harp for the Children’ and ‘a bumbling bay for masters’ (Martin Davis, Samuel, 1st Baron Sandys of Ombersley 1695-1770, rev. 2021 https://www.academia.edu/45446155/Samuel_1st_Baron_Sandys_of_Ombersley_1695_1770 [accessed October 2023]). The idyllic pastoral setting of the painting, and the cockatoo, reinforce the idea that their childhood involved fresh air and play.

The son of a portrait painter, Enoch Seeman travelled to London with his father as a boy in 1704, and soon established himself a portraitist in St. Martin's Lane. From 1717 to the end of his career he received aristocratic and royal commissions, and completed portraits of several members of the family, including coronation portraits of King George II and Queen Caroline of Ansbach. The present work was probably painted in the 1730s, when Seeman was a well-established artist.