Name: ARTHUR DEVIS(PRESTON 1712-1787 BRIGHTON)
Brand: Group portrait of the sons of Thomas Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster (1660-1723) and Albinia Farrington (1689-1745), with their maternal uncle, Thomas Farrington (1687-1758)
Price: 55000.00 GBP
Availability: OutOfStock

ARTHUR DEVIS
(PRESTON 1712-1787 BRIGHTON)
Group portrait of the sons of Thomas Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster (1660-1723) and Albinia Farrington (1689-1745), with their maternal uncle, Thomas Farrington (1687-1758)
oil on canvas
39³⁄₄ x 50¹⁄₄ in. (101 x 127.6 cm.)
with identifying inscription ‘Lords: / Robert. / Thomas. / Vere & / Mon^suBertie / Tho^sFfarington. / Esq^r’ (lower right)
in an 18th century running pattern frame with rosettes at the corners and middles

Thomas Farrington (1687-1758), Farrington's Place, Chislehurst, and by inheritance to his nephew,
Lord Robert Bertie (1721-1782), Bertie's Place, Chislehurst, from whom acquired by his relation,
John Townshend, 2nd Viscount Sydney (1764-1831), Frognal House, Chislehurst, and by descent to his grandson,
Robert Marsham-Townshend (1834-1914), Frognal House, Chislehurst; his sale (†), Knight Frank and Rutley, on the premises, 7 June 1915, lot 22, as 'Zoffany', where unsold, and by descent to,
Hugh Sydney Marsham-Townshend (1878-1967), Scadbury Park, Chislehurst; Christie's, London, 12 July 1946, lot 64, where acquired for 3,000 gns. by Frank Partridge, on behalf of,
Ivor Guest, 2nd Viscount Wimborne (1903-1967), and thence by descent to the present owner.

E. Waterhouse, 'English Conversation Pieces of the Eighteenth Century', The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, LXXXVIII, June 1946, p. 151.
'Front Matter - Christie's Advertisement', The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, LXXXVIII, July 1946, p. vi.
R. Edwards, 'Conversation Pieces', Country Life, CII, 19 September 1947, p. 575, illustrated.
S.H. Pavière, The Devis Family of Painters, Leigh-on-Sea, 1950, p. 37, no. 9.
S. Sitwell, 'The World of Arthur Devis', The Saturday Book, XII, 1952, p. 93, illustrated.
E.G. D'Oench, Arthur Devis (1712-1787): Master of the Georgian Conversation Piece, PhD dissertation, Yale University, 1979, pp. 279-280, no. 11, fig. 24.
E.G. D'Oench, The Conversation Piece: Arthur Devis and His Contemporaries, exhibition catalogue, New Haven, 1980, p. 81, no. 10.
J. Musson, 'The Manor House: Ashby St Ledgers, Northamptonshire, Home of Viscount Wimborne', Country Life, CXCVIII, 4 November 2004, p. 64, visible in pl. 4.

Canterbury, Tower House, An Exhibition of Old Masters from Houses in Kent, 11 June-8 July 1937, no. 45.

For further information on the collection of the Viscounts Wimborne please visit the tab ‘The Wimborne Collection’ on the main sale page.

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Lot Essay

This group portrait depicts the four sons of Robert Bertie, 1^stDuke of Ancaster and Kesteven, and his second wife, Albinia Farrington, with their maternal uncle, Thomas Farrington, seated at a table on the left. Thomas probably commissioned the portrait, and may have known of the artist through his family connections to the Farringtons of Worden, near Preston, themselves patrons of Devis (for example, see Portrait of William Farington of Shawe Hall, Lancashire, New Haven, Yale Center for British Art).

The figure on the far left is identified as Lord Vere Bertie (c.1712-1768), and the other three brothers as Lord Montagu Bertie (1713-1753), Lord Thomas Bertie (d. 1749) and Lord Robert Bertie (1721-1782). The latter inherited Thomas Farrington's estate after his death, including his seat, Farrington's Place, Chislehurst, later renamed Bertie's Place, which may have served as the setting for the present portrait. Although there is some debate about the exact dating, a terminus post quem is established by the death at sea of Naval Captain Lord Thomas Bertie in 1749.

For another group portrait by Arthur Devis of members of the Bertie family, please see lot 308.