Old Masters Day Sale
Old Masters Day Sale
The Property of a Nobleman
Robert Edge Pine
Portrait of Charles Vaughan (1759-1839), three-quarter length, seated reading a book at a desk, a globe beside him
Lot Closed
July 8, 02:37 PM GMT
Estimate
7,000 - 10,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
The Property of a Nobleman
Robert Edge Pine
London circa 1726 - 1788 Philadelphia
Portrait of Charles Vaughan (1759-1839), three-quarter length, seated reading a book at a desk, a globe beside him
oil on canvas
unframed: 91.5 x 71.1 cm.; 36 x 28 in.
framed: 103.1 x 88.5 cm.; 40⅝ x 34⅞ in.
Arthur Gore, 6th Earl of Arran (1868-1958);
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 10 November 1993, lot 51 (as Sir Joshua Reynolds), where unsold.
ENGRAVED
William Humphrey, 1765 (as a portrait of Master Brown).1
We are grateful to Dr Martin Postle for identifying this painting both as a work by Robert Edge Pine, and as a portrait of Charles Vaughan (1759-1839), which he will feature in a forthcoming article.
Charles Vaughan was the fourth of eleven children born to Samuel Vaughan (1720-1802) and Sarah Hallowell, who came from Boston. Vaughan was perhaps Pine’s most important patron. He was instrumental in introducing Pine as an artist in America, and commissioned from him portraits of himself,2 his wife,3 and at least eight of his children, from 1760 over a period of around fifteen years. Charles also appears in a double-portrait with one of his brothers, John (The Westmoreland County Museum of Art, Greensburg, Pennsylvania).4 A portrait of his brother, Richard (formerly with Philip Mould, London),5 from Pine’s series of portraits of the Vaughan children, is most comparable to the present work in format, depicting the boy also in three-quarter length and holding a book.
Charles settled in Hallowell, Maine, where his mother had inherited property on the Kennebec River, and built houses, stores, and the largest malt liquor brewery in New England, though his ventures do not appear to have been hugely successful.