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Lot 485 PROPERTY FORMERLY IN THE COLLECTION OF RICHARD STERN
LOT 485
LOT 485
POMPEO GIROLAMO BATONI (ITALIAN, 1708-1787)
Closed3 June 2015
Price Realised
GBP 64,900
More Information
Specialist note
The sitter was the son of George Legge, Viscount Lewisham (d. 1732) and Elizabeth, née Kaye (d. 1745). Dartmouth’s father died shortly after his birth and his mother married secondly Francis North, 1st Earl of Guilford (1704-1790). Dartmouth and his stepbrother Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford, who became Prime Minister, travelled to Italy on a grand tour together in 1751. In Rome, both were painted in oil on canvas by Batoni. The one depicting the present sitter is in the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College (inv. no. 2007.34), and the one depicting Lord North is in National Portrait Gallery, London (inv. no. NPG 6180). The corresponding portrait miniature by Batoni of Lord North was sold Sotheby’s, London, 27 July 1923, lot 139, and the corresponding portrait miniature to the portrait of Lord Dartmouth is the present lot.
A letter written by Thomas Jenkins to Lord Dartmouth from Rome on 30 March 1755 confirms that both miniatures were painted and dispatched before March 1755 to the ‘Hon. Miss Legge’ (Historical Manuscripts Commission, 15th Report, Appendix, Part I, London, 1896, p. 160). The recipient of the miniature was possibly Lord Dartmouth’s sister The Hon. Anne Legge (d. 1786). The miniatures therefore preceded the oils which were completed in 1756.
In 1755 Lord Dartmouth married Frances Catherine Nicoll and in the same year became Vice President of the Foundling Hospital, a position he held until 1801. He was also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, Lord Privy Seal, President of the Board of Trade and Foreign Plantations and Colonial Secretary. Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, in the United States, is named after him.
Further information about the present portrait can be found in the forthcoming publication by E. P. Bowron, Pompeo Batoni. A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, New Haven and London, 2015, no. 193. We are indebted to Dr Peter Bowron, former Audrey Jones Beck Curator of European Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston for his assistance with the preparation of this catalogue entry.
A letter written by Thomas Jenkins to Lord Dartmouth from Rome on 30 March 1755 confirms that both miniatures were painted and dispatched before March 1755 to the ‘Hon. Miss Legge’ (Historical Manuscripts Commission, 15th Report, Appendix, Part I, London, 1896, p. 160). The recipient of the miniature was possibly Lord Dartmouth’s sister The Hon. Anne Legge (d. 1786). The miniatures therefore preceded the oils which were completed in 1756.
In 1755 Lord Dartmouth married Frances Catherine Nicoll and in the same year became Vice President of the Foundling Hospital, a position he held until 1801. He was also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, Lord Privy Seal, President of the Board of Trade and Foreign Plantations and Colonial Secretary. Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, in the United States, is named after him.
Further information about the present portrait can be found in the forthcoming publication by E. P. Bowron, Pompeo Batoni. A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, New Haven and London, 2015, no. 193. We are indebted to Dr Peter Bowron, former Audrey Jones Beck Curator of European Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston for his assistance with the preparation of this catalogue entry.