Town & Country: A Private Collection
Town & Country: A Private Collection
Arthur Devis
Portrait of Thomas Starkie, of Frenchwood House, Preston, full-length, sitting by a tree, holding a book
Lot Closed
December 14, 03:01 PM GMT
Estimate
4,000 - 6,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Arthur Devis
Preston 1712 - 1787 Brighton
Portrait of Thomas Starkie, of Frenchwood House, Preston, full-length, sitting by a tree, holding a book
oil on canvas, in carved parcel-gilt wood frame
unframed: 65.3 x 48.7 cm.; 25¾ x 19¼ in.
framed: 81.5 x 64.5 cm.; 32⅛ x 25⅜ in.
With Pawsey & Payne, London, 1924 (as depicting Albury Church, near Guildford).
A second version by the artist of the signed and dated painting from 1749, today in the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston.1
Thomas Starkie, a Preston solicitor, was the son of Nicholas Starkie, barrister-at-law and Attorney General of the County Palatine. Both he and his brother Edmund were influential members of the Town Council and therefore well placed to promote their keen Jacobite sympathies. Thomas Starkie was elected mayor of Preston in 1754. He lived at Frenchwood House which he had built in circa 1730. Here he is shown seated beneath an oak tree on the south side of the house, overlooking the Ribble valley. To the left is Saint Leonard's Church, Walton-le-Dale, with Hoghton Tower visible at the top of the hill in the distance.
1 S. Sartin, Polite society by Arthur Devis, 1712–1787: Portraits of the English country gentleman and his family, exh. cat., Preston 1983, p. 50, no. 21, reproduced.