Collector, Dealer, Connoisseur: The Vision of Richard L. Feigen

John Russell

Portrait of a young man, half-length, said to be Peter Speirs

Auction Closed

October 18, 03:29 PM GMT

Estimate

8,000 - 12,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

John Russell

Guildford 1745 - 1806 Hull

Portrait of a young man, half-length, said to be Peter Speirs

signed and dated lower left: J Russell Pinxt / 1767

oil on canvas

canvas: 30 by 25 1/4 in.; 76.2 by 64.1 cm.

framed: 36 1/4 by 31 1/2 in.; 92 by 80 cm.

Mason Family, Necton Hall, Norfolk, England, by the early 19th century;
Thence by descent to Audrey Mason, by 1928 when removed from Necton Hall;
Thence by descent to David Mason;
By whom anonymously sold, New York, Sotheby's, 13 October 1989, lot 100;
There acquired by Richard L. Feigen.

Santa Barbara, Museum of Art, 1972-1989;
Cambridge, Massachusetts, Fogg Art Museum, 1979 (according to a label on the reverse).

This portrait has traditionally been identified as Peter Speirs and was exhibited as such at the Fogg Art Museum. The Speirs family was a prominent Scottish family in the eighteenth century from Peebles. Alexander Speirs (1714-1782) lived at Elderslie House in Renfrewshire and it is possible that the sitter in this portrait was related to him.