Live Auction 21052Ombersley Court: The Collection of Lord and Lady Sandys
JAMES ROBERTS (WESTMINSTER 1753-1809)
Lot 208

JAMES ROBERTS (WESTMINSTER 1753-1809)

Portrait of Edwin Sandys (1765-1785), small full-length, in academic robes

Closed29 November 2023

Price Realised

GBP 2,142

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JAMES ROBERTS (WESTMINSTER 1753-1809)
Portrait of Edwin Sandys (1765-1785), small full-length, in academic robes
signed, dated and inscribed 'Edwin Sandys / Esqr. / Painted by / Js: Roberts / June 1785. / Oxford.' (on the reverse of the canvas)
oil on canvas, unlined
18 ¼ x 12 in. (46 x 30.5 cm.)
Please note that 100% of the hammer proceeds from this auction will be paid to the Sandys Trust, registered charity number: 1168357, with the exception of limited deductions towards sale costs across the auction which cannot be accurately calculated at this time, capped at a total of £10,000.

(Presumably) by descent to the sitter's sister,
Mary, Marchioness of Downshire and 1st Baroness Sandys (1764-1836), and by descent to her second son,
Lieutenant-General Arthur Hill, 2nd Baron Sandys (1792-1860), and by inheritance to his younger brother,
Arthur Marcus Sandys, 3rd Baron Sandys (1798-1863), and thence by descent in the family to,
Richard Hill, 7th Baron Sandys (1931-2013), at Ombersley Court, Worcestershire.

Specialist note

Edwin was the son of Martin Sandys and Mary Trumbull, and brother of Mary, Marchioness of Downshire. Painted whilst Edwin was at Christ Church, Oxford, this portrait was completed in the last months of his short life. The cypress trees, associated variously with mourning, death and immortality since Roman times, suggest that the portrait may have been completed posthumously.

James Roberts was a pupil of the Royal Academy Schools and exhibited there from 1773-99. He was later a drawing teacher in Oxford between 1784 and 1794, where he appears to have painted several pupils and members of staff. Another portrait of a contemporary of Edwin at Oxford by Roberts is in the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (inv. no. NPG.96.28). It shows the scientist and founder of the Smithsonian, James Smithson, as a student at Pembroke College, wearing his university robes.