- 252
Sir Thomas Lawrence P. R .A. Bristol 1769 - 1830 London
Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed
Description
- Sir Thomas Lawrence, P. R .A.
- Portrait of Mr. Darby
- half-length, wearing a brown coat and buff waistcoat with white cravat, holding a letter, a landscape beyond
- oil on canvas
Provenance
By descent in the Darby family;
C. R. McCrae, Esq.;
By whom sold, London, Sotheby's, March 2, 1983, lot 47 (as Attributed to Gilbert Stuart);
With Thos. Agnew and Sons, Ltd., London (from a label on the reverse).
Literature
K. Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence, A complete catalogue of the oil paintings, New York 1989, p. 177, no. 236 (as "attribution to Lawrence is not absolutely certain but it appears to the compiler to be a product of his very early London years.").
Catalogue Note
The sitter is possibly John Darby (1751-1834) of Leap Castle, King's County, Ireland and Marklye, Sussex, and the brother of Admiral Henry d'Esterre Darby. Darby was a merchant and profited from naval contracts in the Napoleonic Wars. He was married to Anne, daughter of Samuel Vaughan. Their youngest son, John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) was an evangelist and one of the founders of the Plymouth Brethren.