Old Master & British Works on Paper

Old Master & British Works on Paper

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 154. Portrait of Theophila Palmer, later Mrs Gwatkin (1757-1848).

Daniel Gardner

Portrait of Theophila Palmer, later Mrs Gwatkin (1757-1848)

No reserve

No Reserves

Lot Closed

July 6, 04:24 PM GMT

Estimate

1,200 - 1,800 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Daniel Gardner

Kendal 1745 - 1805 London

Portrait of Theophila Palmer, later Mrs Gwatkin (1757-1848)


Pastel and bodycolour on laid paper 

284 by 206 mm

Sale, London, Christie's, 12 July 1912, lot 2, bt Agnew's,
with Agnew's, London,
by whom sold to Mrs Burns, 24 July 1918;
Lewis, 1st Viscount Harcourt (1863-1922), by 1921;
Alexander, 6th Baron Ashburton (1898-1991),
sale, London, Christie's South Kensington, 26 January 1995, lot 257,
sale, Alresford, Andrew Smith, 28-30 March 2023, lot 767,
where acquired by the present owner 
G. Williamson, Daniel Gardner Painter in pastel and gouache, London 1921, p. 103, illus.;
N. Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, online edition., no. J.338.1348 

The sitter, who was known as 'Offy', was Sir Joshua Reynolds' niece. Born in Devon she was the second daughter of John Palmer of Great Torrington and Mary Reynolds. For much of the period between 1770 and her marriage to Robert Lovell Gwatkin in 1781, she lived in Reynolds's house in London. Reynolds painted her on several occasions and left her £10,000 upon his death in 1792.1


1. See. J. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds: A complete catalogue of his paintings, New Haven 2000, pp. 362-3, no. 1389 & 1390