Lenthall pictures

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The Lenthall pictures were a number of paintings owned by the Lenthall family and housed at Burford Priory. The collection was publicly commented on by art historians and tourists. It was largely dispersed in two sales in 1808 and 1833, although some works were retained by the family and sold in the late 20th century.

Contents

The history of the collection

Many of the works were acquired by Speaker Lenthall after he purchased Burford Priory in 1637. However, the portraits of the Tanfields is evidence that some of the paintings may have been at Burford when it was purchased from Viscount Falkland. Lenthall was one of the overseers of Sir Lawrence Tanfield's will and had married into the family of his second wife. [1] Some of the paintings may have been owned by Charles I and sold after his execution [2] – a rumour to this effect was mentioned by Harold Nicolson. [3] At least two portraits (including William Lenthall, grandson of Speaker Lenthall) were painted after Speaker Lenthall's death. By 1682, the collection contained 145 pictures. [4]

The collection was commented on by the art historian George Vertue and also by Horace Walpole who offered the opinion that the portraits were "rubbish, but celebrated". [5] The Georgian tourist, John Loveday, visited Burford to see the collection on 2 April 1736. [6] He wrote down a detailed description of the More family painting and mentioned a number of others in the collection.

Two of the religious paintings in the collection, along with the portrait of Thomas More and his family and a number of other portraits were mentioned in Gentleman's Magazine in 1799. [7]

The collection was moved to Besselsleigh (another Lenthall family home) in 1808 when Burford was renovated, but it was largely dispersed in two sales in 1808 and 1833. [2]

Identifying portraits that were part of the collection

Around 1700, inscriptions were added to a number of the portraits in the collection. [8] These inscriptions purported to identify the sitter, although the identification is unreliable. The added inscription was typically in ochre, golden or yellow serifed capitals in the bottom left. [9] Although this positioning, colour and style of inscription is not unique, it does serve to suggest a portrait may have been in the collection when attribution and title have changed.

Some works in the collection

There is an inventory of more than 60 works at Burford (mainly portraits) in the collection in the Oxfordshire Record Office. This was prepared by "Mr Lenthall" and recorded by Thomas Symonds in 1827. [2] The 1833 sale contained 73 lots, the majority of which were portraits. There were nineteen classical or religious subjects and a couple of landscapes and still lifes. The full catalogue can be found on Google Books and there is a transcript with prices on the Getty Provenance Database which also has a partial catalogue of the 1808 sale.

Among the portraits were:

Some pictures from the collection

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References

  1. History of Parliament
  2. 1 2 3 The Lenthall Pictures, Nicholas Cooper, Victoria County History The date of the second sale is given as 1831, an error for the correct date, 1833
  3. The Spectator, 12 March 1943
  4. Cliffe, J T (1999). The world of the Country House in 17th Century England. Yale University Press. p. 43.
  5. Correspondence of Horace Walpole. Henry Colburn. 1837. p. 211.
  6. List of tours by John Loveday
  7. edition of July 1799, quoted in Hutton, William Holden (1905). Burford Papers, Being Letters of Samuel Crisp to His Sister at Burford Etc. Archibald Constable & Co. Ltd.
  8. Trumble, Angus; 2012; Inscriptions
  9. Matthews, John; 2016; An Investigation of Temple and Lenthall Family Portraits
  10. Catalogue of the pictures in the National Portrait Gallery, W. Clowes, 1859
  11. Art UK
  12. Sotheby's Sold Lots
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Gentleman's Magazine, July 1833
  14. 1 2 Sale catalogue and price list
  15. The life and times of Lucius Cary G. P. Putnams's Sons, 1907, between pages 48 and 49
  16. Walpole Society Journal, Volume XX
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 The English Counties Delineated, Volume 2, Thomas Moule, 1837
  18. Cooper, Tarnya (2008). A Guide to Tudor & Jacobean Portraits. National Portrait Gallery. p. 38.
  19. UK and Ireland Genealogy
  20. A biographical and critical dictionary of painters and engravers, Michael Bryan, page 337
  21. Hearn, Thomas; Aubrey, John (1813). Letters Written by Eminent Persons in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: to which are Added, Hearne's Journeys to Reading, and to Whaddon Hall, the Seat of Browne Willis, Esq., and Lives of Eminent Men, by John Aubrey, Esq. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. p. 464.
  22. Woods, Anthony (1813). Athenae Oxoniensis. p. 87.
  23. Tudor and Jacobean Portraits, Roy Strong, HMSO, 1969
  24. The Thomas More Family Group Portraits After Holbein by Lesley Lewis
  25. Lewis, Lesley (1998). The Thomas More Family Group Portraits After Holbein. Gracewing, Fowler Wright Books. p. 32. ISBN   0852444664.
  26. Northwick Park Sale Catalogue
  27. Finberg, Alexander J; A Chronological List of Portraits by Cornelius Johnson in 10th volume of Wallpole Society, 1936
  28. 1 2 Lenthall Collection Sale Catalogue, 1833
  29. Dynasties, Karen Hearn, page 179
  30. Hutton, William Holden; Crisp, Samuel (1905). Burford Papers. A. Constable & Co. p.  18.
  31. Catalogue of Pictures in the National Portrait Gallery. HMSO. 1859. p. 22.
  32. National Portrait Gallery
  33. Harrison, Fairfax (1920). The Devon Carys. Vol. 2. De Vinne Press.
  34. Oxford DNB biography
  35. The Victoria Advocate
  36. Tate catalogue entry