Item | Waddesdon Manor

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artist or maker

Brown, Mather (b.1761, d.1831)

previously attributed to Sir William Beechey (British, b.1753, d.1839)

Date

1788

dated by exhibition

Place of production

London, England, United Kingdom

Medium

oil on canvas

Type of object

paintings

Accession number

2830

Oil full-length portrait of H. R. H. Frederick Augustus, Duke of York (1763-1827). The Duke stands with his body facing a little to the left, and his head to the right, in three-quarter profile. He supports his outstretched right arm on a walking stick and rests his left hand on his hip. He wears the uniform of the Colonel of the 2nd Foot or Coldstream Guards with a sword. He also holds a glove in his right hand. Behind, there is a hazy landscape. Soldiers on horseback and flags are visible on the left; to the right, the ground slopes away with a military encampment. A red cloak appears on the ground in the right foreground.

Mather Brown was born in Boston, America. He went to London in 1781, where he was taught by Benjamin West and admitted as a student to the Royal Academy in 1782. He was first described as 'Portrait Painter to H. R. H. The Duke of York' in the Royal Academy catalogue of 1789, where he exhibited this work alongside another full-length portrait of the Duke's brother, the Prince of Wales (Royal Collection, London).

Commentary

Prince Frederick was the second son of George III and became an important military commander. Mather Brown's portrait shows him as a young man. Already during his studies in Hanover, he was made colonel of the 2nd Horse Grenadier Guards in 1782 and was quickly promoted to major-general in the same year. In 1784, he became lieutenant-general and colonel of the 2nd Foot Guards or Coldstream Guard, the rank he holds here. The Duke chose Brown as his official portrait painter in December 1788, when newspapers reported that this portrait was underway.

When Frederick returned to London in 1787, he gained a reputation as a great gambler but also a courageous man: when challenged to a duel in 1789, he refused to use his rank to call off the fight. He calmly waited for his opponent's shot before firing into the air. Mather Brown's portrait captures something of this heroic character. The Duke stands on a hillock in a military camp in uniform but sporting an elegant walking stick. He has an air of calm command even though turbulent clouds gather overhead.

In 1788, Brown used a similar composition to depict the popular hero and defender of Gibraltar, Baron Heathfield, triumphant in battle (East Sussex County Council). Brown's portrait is also reminiscent of Joshua Reynolds's portrait of Captain St Leger, also at Waddesdon (acc. no. 2259), painted in 1778. A preliminary oil sketch of the composition (collection Earl of Mansfield, Scone Castle) shows Mather Brown exaggerated the swagger of the pose through the extended elbow in the final version.

The work was exhibited in 1789 to rapturous praise in the press. His success at gaining royal commissions seems to have alienated other artists, and may have contributed to his failure to become a member of the Royal Academy. The head and shoulders of Brown's portrait was engraved by G. Murray. It was first published 1 September 1794 by Harrison and Co. for the 'Pocket Magazine'. Brown's rendition may have inspired later portraits by William Beechey and Samuel Koster, who also used the unusual exterior full-length pose (see engravings in the British Museum and National Portrait Gallery). The Waddesdon portrait was attributed to William Beechey when it was acquired by Alice de Rothschild.

Phillippa Plock, 2012

Physical description

Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)

2165 x 1339
2120 x 1295 - sight

Signature & date

not signed or dated

History

Provenance

Acquired by Alice de Rothschild (b.1847, d.1922) from P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. Ltd, London, in July 1909 for £325 as 'William beechey - A whole length portrait of George IV when young in military costume'; inherited by her great-nephew James de Rothschild (b.1878, d.1957); accepted by the Treasury Solicitor in lieu of taxes on the Estate of Mr James de Rothschild in 1963; given to Waddesdon (National Trust) in 1990.

Exhibition history

Royal Academy, London, 1789, no. 237

Collection

Waddesdon (National Trust)
Accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to the National Trust for display at Waddesdon Manor, 1990

Bibliography

The World; 22 December 1788; Mentions portrait underway (quoted in Evans, 1982)
London Chronicle; 28-30 April 1789; Review of 1789 exhibition (quoted in Evans, 1982)
Ellis Waterhouse, Anthony Blunt; Paintings: The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor; Fribourg; Office du Livre, The National Trust; 1967; pp. 28-29, cat. no. 1, ill.
Dorinda Evans; Mather Brown: Early American Artist in England; Middletown; Wesleyan University Press; 1982; pp. 86-89, fig. 69; p. 234, no. 199
Jane Turner; The Encyclopedia of American Art before 1914; London; Macmillan & Co Ltd; 1999; p. 70, ill.

Related files

- www.britishmuseum.org [search on 1902,1011.5960 for engraving after William Beechey; accessed 19 January 2010]
- www.britishmuseum.org [search on 1902,1011.5960 for engraving after William Beechey; accessed 19 January 2010]

Other details

Subject person

Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany, Sitter
George IV of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Previous identification

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