Master Paintings
Master Paintings
Property of a Private Collector
Pieter Van Bleeck
Portrait of Mary Bartholomew, as a shepherdess, three-quarter-length, holding a crook and with a lamb at her side
Lot Closed
October 21, 04:23 PM GMT
Estimate
7,000 - 9,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property of a Private Collector
Pieter Van Bleeck
The Hague 1697 - 1764 London
Portrait of Mary Bartholomew, as a shepherdess, three-quarter-length, holding a crook and with a lamb at her side
inscribed upper right: Mary Bartholomew, / Wife of Sir Francis Geary. / Born . 1726 - Died. 1778.
oil on canvas
canvas: 49¾ by 40⅛ in.; 126.4 by 101.9 cm.
framed: 57⅛ by 47 in.; 145.1 by 119.4 cm.
The Dutch artist Pieter van Bleeck was primarily active in London, where he specialized in portraiture and print making. Drawn largely to London's theatrical personalities, he rendered portraits of Owen Swiny, Kitty Clive, and Peg Woffington, among other actors and actresses.
An inscription on the present canvas identifies the lady in the guise of a shepherdess as Mary Bartholomew: born in 1726, the only daughter of Philip Bartholomew of Oxon Hoath, West Peckham and of West Malling, both in Kent. On 20 September 1748, she married Admiral Francis Geary, Bt. (1709-1796), an officer of the Royal Navy who was active in several wars, including the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence. He was created a Baronet on August 17, 1782.
Mary and Admiral Geary had two sons and three daughters: Francis, William, Mary, Judith, and Elizabeth. The Baronetcy was inherited by their second son, Sir William Geary, for their eldest son, Sir Francis, was killed in 1776 in the Revolutionary War.