Old Master & 19th Century Paintings
Old Master & 19th Century Paintings
The Property of a Gentleman
Studio of Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A., P.R.S.A.
Portrait of the Hon. James Wedderburn FRSE (1782–1822), half-length
Lot Closed
April 5, 01:18 PM GMT
Estimate
6,000 - 8,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
The Property of a Gentleman
Studio of Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A., P.R.S.A.
Edinburgh 1756–1823
Portrait of the Hon. James Wedderburn FRSE (1782–1822), half-length
oil on canvas
unframed: 76.4 x 64 cm.; 30⅛ x 25¼ in.
framed: 99 x 86 cm.; 39 x 33⅞ in.
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 22 March 2000, for £8,200 (as Henry Raeburn);
Where purchased by the present owner.
James Wedderburn FRSE (1782–1822) was the Solicitor General for Scotland between 1816 and 1823, having been the Sherriff-Depute of Peebles for several years prior. His daughter, Jemima (1823–1909), was a a watercolourist and close friend of Ruskin, Trollope and Thackeray. According to his daughter, her father's dark and penetrating eyes 'have an affect in the witnesses in law courts of making them afraid to tell lies'.
This painting appears to be a studio repetition of a painting recorded with the New House Galleries in the early 1960s.1 Raeburn's portrait of his wife Mrs. James Wedderburn, née Isabelle Clerk, is now in the Yale University Art Gallery.2
1 A photograph of this painting is preserved in the Heinz Library and Archive, London.