Isaac Whood

With Messrs Appleby, London, 1950 (according to a photograph in the Heinz Library);

Anonymous sale, 25 January 1973, lot 115 (as a portrait of Lord Lever by Hogarth), for £9,400;

Where acquired by the present owner.

This portrait depicts the Lancashire merchant, politician and patron Sir James Darcy Lever of Alkrington Hall (1703–1742).¹ Set within a grand neo-classical interior, the sitter is depicted wearing an informal turban or cap and sitting next to a carved and gilded table bearing the Lever of Alkrington coat of arms.² Furthermore, the gentleman holds a diagram of an archimedean spiral and a drawing of a squared circle, allusions to classical mathematics and geometry.

Sir James descended from the affluent Levers of the North-West of England, whose earliest recorded presence in that area dates to the thirteenth century.³ He is recorded as having matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford in 1723, appointed High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1736, and eventually knighted in 1737. Apart from this portrait, Lever's most significant piece of patronage was the commissioning of the Venetian architect Giacomo Leoni (1686–1746) to rebuild Alkrington Hall in 1735–6. Alkrington Hall is more widely known for being the oldest Palladian House in Lancashire.³

Born in Lincolnshire in 1721, the artist Isaac Whood (1688/9–1752) was recorded as a portrait painter, copyist, picture dealer and antiquarian. His most significant works include a set of portraits known as Dr Burton's Commoners in the collection of Winchester College.⁴ This lot, signed by the artist, is typical of the painter's powerful baroque portraits and was created during the most prolific decade of his career.

¹ Although the portrait was formerly called John Lever of Darcy Lever (1701–1794), it seems that this identification was based on an incorrect reading of the inscription on the painting.

² E. Baines, History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster, vol. 2, London 1836, p. 566.

³ P. Hanks, R. Coates and P. McClure, The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, vol. 3, Oxford 2016, p. 1576. Online Edition: https://www-oxfordreference-com.lonlib.idm.oclc.org/view/10.1093/acref/9780199677764.001.0001/acref-9780199677764-e-24091?rskey=uz1EPi&result=24081

⁴ C. Hartwell, M. Hyde and N. Pevsner, Lancashire: Manchester and the South East, London 2004, p. 39.

⁵ C. Rowell, 'Portraits of 'Dr. Burton's Commoners' and Winchester College', in The British Art Journal, vol. XIV, no. 1, 2013, pp. 3–17.