Completed Dress and Textiles, Portraits: British 18th C, South West England: Artists and Subjects 8 Could the artist be Charles Clifford (1759-1831), 6th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh?

CW_RCM_TRURI_1944_11
Topic: Artist

This portrait has been erroneously attributed to Edward Clifford (1844–1907).

An earlier artist, known only as ‘Clifford’, painted this miniature portrait of William Pryce (of Redruth, Cornwall), which was published in 1778 in that author's ‘Mineralogia Cornubiensis’. See the line engraving by James Basire after Clifford (versions at the National Portrait Gallery and the British Museum, dated c.1778 and 1790–1810 respectively).
https://bit.ly/2Nl4wsz
https://bit.ly/30huja9

Four other portraits of wealthy Cornish sitters are known to have been painted by Clifford who resided in Truro at some stage. No other references to him can be found in Truro, so perhaps his home was elsewhere.

The artist might have been Charles Clifford (1759-1831), 6th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, who is recorded as an artist.

There is an enquiry on the same topic on the ‘Understanding British Portraits’ website: https://bit.ly/2tUOP4i

Viv HENDRA, Entry reviewed by Art UK

Completed, Outcome

This discussion is now closed. The artist record has been amended from Edward Clifford (1844–1907) to Clifford (active c.1778) and the title updated from ‘W. M. Pryce (1735–1790)’ to William Pryce (1735–1790), of Redruth, Cornwall’. We have added to our description Osmund Bullock’s suggestion that a certain itinerant William Clifford (fl.1761–1774) was in the right area of Cornwall at exactly the right time to be a possible candidate for the artist; there are no other men surnamed ‘Clifford’ of which that is true.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this discussion. To anyone viewing it for the first time, please see below for all the comments that led to this conclusion.

7 comments

This may or may not get somewhere but assuming not (the Understanding British Portraits query of 2018 has remained unanswered), it presents an issue of principle. The current attribution to Edward Clifford (b. 1844) is clearly unjustifiable, so should the artist just be 'Clifford' or 'Clifford (of Truro)' on the basis that all the known images by him seem to have that link, even if he was only temporarily resident there?

Osmund Bullock,

My feeling is that Charles Clifford, later Lord Clifford, is very unlikely. But it is surprising that I can find virtually nothing about him or where he lived between his (Catholic) baptism in Dec 1759 at the Royal Bavarian Chapel in Soho, and his (necessarily Anglican) marriage at St George Hanover Square in Nov 1786. Or perhaps not so surprising, given the severe restrictions on Catholics during that period, which would have precluded him from doing most of the things that might have given him a profile in historical records.

Nevertheless, I find it very hard to believe that in the 1770s/80s the youthful son (even a second one) of a distinguished and wealthy titled family, Catholic or not, would have quietly travelled around Cornwall unrecognised for a decade or two taking portraits, and then returned to marry In London the daughter of another equally prominent aristocratic family.

The William Pryce engraving was published in about 1778, so Chas Clifford would have been at most 19 when our presumed original was painted - at 10 in. high, incidentally, I think I would call ours a small portrait rather a miniature. And your hypothesis that the simple 'Clifford' name on the print was because of his peerage doesn't work at all - in 1778 his elder brother Hugh was alive and heir apparent, and still young and yet to marry (which he did two years later). No-one could have known then that he would die without issue, and that Charles would inherit the title, which he didn't do for another 15 years.

Jacob Simon,

This discussion, dating to January 2020, “Could the artist be Charles Clifford (1759-1831), 6th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh?”, received two immediate contributions and none since. As Osmund said of the proposed attribution “I find it very hard to believe that in the 1770s/80s the youthful son (even a second one) of a distinguished and wealthy titled family, Catholic or not, would have quietly travelled around Cornwall unrecognised for a decade or two taking portraits”. So it seems to me that in the absence of corroborating evidence, the proposed identification is difficult to justify.

Pieter asked, “The current attribution to Edward Clifford (b. 1844) is clearly unjustifiable, so should the artist just be 'Clifford' or 'Clifford (of Truro)' on the basis that all the known images by him seem to have that link, even if he was only temporarily resident there?”.

Time to close this discussion on this basis?


Jacob justifiably recommends that it is time to close this discussion on the basis that Pieter suggested: “The current attribution to Edward Clifford (b. 1844) is clearly unjustifiable, so should the artist just be 'Clifford' or 'Clifford (of Truro)' on the basis that all the known images by him seem to have that link, even if he was only temporarily resident there?”."

Osmund Bullock,

I do have a tenuous candidate for the artist, a certain William Clifford, but it is a suggestion based solely on circumstantial evidence of geography and genealogy – he was around at exactly the right place and time, and there are no other men surnamed 'Clifford' of which that is true (and virtually no others in Cornwall in the mid to late C18th at all). But there is (as yet) no evidence whatsoever that he either was or wasn't an artist, though he does seem to have been itinerant – his occupation is unrecorded in any of the parish records in which he features.

He appears from nowhere to marry his probably Cornish wife at Penryn in 1761, and was apparently in the same (Penryn-Falmouth-Budock) vicinity for the baptisms of four children during the rest of the 1760s; in 1769 one of the children was buried a small distance north at the village of Perranarworthal, and the next three children were also christened there in the first half of the 1770s. Perranarworthal is just six miles from Redruth, William Pryce’s home, and Clifford is described in the register as a ‘sojourner’ (a non-resident) at all three christenings. There is no direct evidence he lived in Truro itself (nor any sign of his death or birth anywhere in Cornwall), but the town is little more than five miles from P’worthal; and in 1785 a ‘Mr John Clifford’, possibly his eldest son (b. 1762), was buried at St Mary’s there. St Stephen-in-Brannel, where his wife was probably born, is about 11 miles the other (NE) side of Truro. Whether or not that’s enough to add a very tentative ‘possibly William Clifford, fl.1761-1774’ I slightly doubt...but there it is.

A couple of clarifying attachments herewith. Sorry about the scrappy pedigree – I was hoping to tidy things up before posting, but being slightly under the medical cosh just now wanted to get something in quickly before the thread closes.

EDIT: I did find mention of a Mr & Mrs Clifford acting at Truro Theatre in 1810-11, but whether or not connected I cannot say. That’s all I could see in the BNA.

Osmund Bullock,

Sorry, a 'sojourner' is not really a non-resident, but a *temporary* resident.

Osmund, thank you making another suggestion for the artist. As you say, there is no evidence that William Clifford (fl. 1761–1774) even was an artist – just that he was itinerant, and in the right place at the right time. I think the safest update is to 'Clifford', but we'll add this name to our description field in the hope of promoting further research.