Beschreibung:

GEORGE ROMNEY (BRITISH 1734-1802) A PORTRAIT OF FRANCIS REYNOLDS MORETON DUCIE, 1ST EARL OF DUCIE (1776-1840) Oil on canvas 88 x 69cm (34½ x 27 in.) Provenance: Possibly, The Executors of the late 6th Earl Ducie,Sale Phillips, London, No680, lot 42 Literature Alex Kidson, George Romney A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, 2015, vol. 2 p.417, as 'untraced'. Thomas Reynolds Moreton, 1st Earl of Ducie (1776-22) was the eldest son of Francis Reynolds-Moreton, 3rd Baron Ducie, a Whig Member of Parliament for Lancaster as well as a distinguished naval captain who fought several important engagements in the American War of Independence. Thomas Reynolds Moreton attended Eton College and subsequently Exeter College, Oxford. In 1809 he succeeded his father as Baron Ducie and inherited estates in Gloustershire, shortly thereafter receiving a commission as Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant in the Royal West Gloucestershire Local Militia, Bristol. Ducie was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1814 and created 1st Earl of Ducie in 1837. The present portrait was commissioned by Reynolds-Moreton in 1794 and finished in 1795. At this time the sitter would have been eighteen and matriculated at the University of Oxford. Indeed, the portrait depicts Reynolds-Moreton in his nobleman's academic gown, the colour of which those of sufficient rank could choose themselves. Made of silk these luxurious garments were decorated with gold trim (matched by a golden tuft on their black velvet mortarboards). An object of some considerable pride to such young men, it is here recorded for posterity. George Romney was likely chosen for this commission as he had already proven his worth in the two magnificent full-length portraits previously executed of the sitter's father, the 3rd Baron, and his stepmother. His confident and loose brushstrokes exhibited a fresh spontaneity that attracted popular acclaim. Indeed, his sessions quickly became known as virtuoso 'performances' - John Wesley for example wrote that 'Mr. Romney is a painter indeed! He struck off an exact likeness at once, and did more in an hour than Sir Joshua did in ten.' A copy after this portrait was painted by Theophilus Clarke (1776-1831) and hangs in Exeter College, Oxford, the sitter's alma mater (perhaps commissioned by Reynolds-Moreton or the college itself to proudly record the future peer's attendance at Exeter, Reynolds-Moreton taking his own portrait with him). This later portrait is dated 1797, two years after the original was painted. Clarke's portrait is a half-length rather than the kit-kat that Romney was paid for, moreover various stylistic differences between the two testify to the present portrait being the original. The copy lacks the finesse of Romney's work in the handling of the pattern within the blue and gold gown, but also in the sitter's face where the proportion is lost, notably in the right eye and in the elongated crown of his head. The background, too, lacks the freedom exhibited in the Romney and Clarke was evidently not confident enough in his ability to copy the sitter's hands.