Completed London: Artists and Subjects, Portraits: British 16th and 17th C 19 Could this portrait titled 'Edmund Waller' really depict Robert Bolling? Was it painted by Godfrey Kneller?

DOR_BRC_BORGM_01208
Topic: Subject or sitter

I would like to know how certain it is that this is portrait of Edmund Waller? Also, is it known when was it painted?

I came across a portrait of Robert Bolling (1646–1709) (see image attached: painting 2) which looks very similar to this one of Edmund Waller (painting 1). I looked up online and I found Waller's late portrait (painting 3) and I compared the three.

Painting 1: If it was painted by Godfrey Kneller it would have to be after 1676 (Kneller arrived to England) which means the sitter here, Waller, must have been 71 years old! So perhaps: a) this is not Edmund Waller, b) this is not by Kneller c) Kneller painted it back in Germany/the Netherlands (I couldn't find any information about Waller travelling there though).

Painting 2: Robert Bolling (1646–1709) left London moved from London to US in 1660 – he was 14 years old. Could it be possible that painting 1 is his portrait before he left?

Painting 3: This painting is after John Riley (1646–1691) and along with other 16 portraits of Edmund Waller (after Godfrey Kneller among others) seems to represent a different man... Waller was about 80 when this was painted.

Furthermore the size, palette, face and costume treatment look similar in painting 1 and painting 2.

I wonder if anyone could verify any of the above.

Collection note: I am afraid we have nothing on file regarding this painting. All our records refer to it as being a portrait of Edmund Waller but could simply mean that it is a long standing miss-attribution. Given the evidence that Karolina has presented I think it is safe to say that the painting is probably not of Edmund Waller or by Godfrey Kneller. If anyone else can contribute I would be interested.

Karolina Badzmierowska, Entry reviewed by Art UK

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Completed, Outcome

This discussion is now closed. The title remains ‘Portrait of an Unidentified Gentleman’ and it is now listed as by an unknown British artist.

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

18 comments

Jeni Molyneux,

I think that is is Edmund Waller as if you look closely at the features of the two images of him early and later -the eye brows, nose and mouth are in fact very very similar. I think this is definitely the younger and older man. Whereas Robert Bolling's features are clearly quite different.
Just my opinion.

Bendor Grosvenor,

I suspect that, alas, it's likely to be neither Waller nor Bolling, though it does look closer to the latter. It isn't by Kneller.

Patty Macsisak,

This following video (1. on the list) describes the widely reproduced portrait of Robert Bolling (1646-1709). "An unknown artist completed the painting in 1690 for display in the London home of Colonel John Bolling. After its completion, the portrait was exhibited alongside eighteen other Bolling portraits in London. Throughout the next three hundred years, the portrait traveled...." What is known about the eighteen Bolling portraits? Could the painting above be traced to this collection?

http://article.wn.com/view/2014/09/10/Vas_top_10_Endangered_Artifacts_revealed/

The RCAGM aquired this painting from a Miss James of Barton-on-Sea in 6.1940. I am sorry to say that there is very little on file about this painting although the work is consistanly only attributed to Kneller and the sitter disputed. I did find an undated note which reads: 'The Works of Edmund Waller Published by Mr Fenton, London 1729 has an engraved oval frontispiece of Waller by Vertue after Kneller but it shows a somewhat older man than this portrait, and there are differences in the wig and dress. It is possible that the painting, if by Kneller, was painted abroad.' I am sorry that I cannot contribute any more to this discussion but we would be interested if anyone could identify both the sitter and the artist but I suspect that would be an impossible task.

Karolina Badzmierowska,

Thank you all for your contributions. The note from the RCAGM relates to this engraved portrait of Waller: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433000136808;view=1up;seq=8 ( This portrait was engraved by George Vertue (1684 – 24 July 1756) and based on the painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646 – 1723). I haven't find this exact portrait by Kneller, but by looking at the other engraved portraits from the NPG, there were a few (http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp04673/edmund-waller?search=sas&sText=waller).

Patty Macsisak,

The portrait appears to be of man about 20-30 years old. If Robert Bolling, it would have been executed ca. 1666-1676. In the period, he was married (1674), had a son and was widowed (1676). Perhaps he traveled back to England before his 2nd marriage (1681).

The portrait in the Muscarelle Museum of Art, William and Mary University was donated by a descendant of Col. Robert Bollling, Rebecca Lamb Bolling (Mrs. Robert Malcolm Littlejohn), presumably passed down through the family.

Ref. via Google eBooks
Title Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915
Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915, John W. Leonard
Author John W. Leonard
Publisher American commonwealth Company, 1914
Original from Pennsylvania State University
Page 494

The portrait was included as an illustration in the translation of "A Memoir of a Portion of the Bolling Family in England and Virginia", originally written in French by Col. Bolling. The work is primarily a genealogical memoir and contains no mention of his travels between Virginia and England after 1660, if any.

Title A Memoir of a Portion of the Bolling Family in England and Virginia
Issue 4 of Historical documents from the Old Dominion
Author Robert Bolling
Publisher W.H. Wade & Company, 1868
Original from the University of Virginia
Digitized May 27, 2008
Page viii

The complicated story of the memoir can be found here:
http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/bolling/1961/

If the portrait can be proven to be an unknown portrait of Col. Robert Bolling, I am sure it will be of great interest among his descendants, et. al.

Patty Macsisak,

The portrait under discussion is similar in style and format to the group of five portraits which are or were once attributed to Gustavus Hesselius (1682-1755). Among others, these portraits illustrated the book “A Memoir of a Portion of the Bolling Family in England and Virginia”, previously cited. The five sitters include: Robert Bolling (1646-1709); John Bolling aka Major John Fairfax Bolling (1676 – 1729), son of Robert Bolling; Mary Kennon, Mrs. Major John Fairfax Bolling (1676 – 1727); John Bolling, Jr. aka John Kennon Bolling (1700-1757), son of Major John Fairfax Bolling; Elizabeth Blair aka Elizabeth Bland Blair, Mrs. John Kennon Bolling (1708-1775). All of the portraits were painted c. 1735-1740, except that of Robert Bolling which was painted c. 1700-1750. The portraits are all approximately 74 cm x 62 cm, with the portrait painted in an oval format. Can Russell-Cotes provide the dimension of their portrait?

The portrait of Robert Bolling described above and now in the Muscarelle Museum of Art was not painted from life by Gustavus Hesselius (1682-1755): Hesselius did not migrate to North America from Sweden until 1711, two years after the death of Bolling.

I find a portrait of Francis-Lindley, owner of Bowling Hall near Bradford, Yorkshire after 1680, that is remarkably similar to the portrait of Robert Bolling. Could Bolling's portrait been copied or based on the Francis-Lindley portrait? Scroll down to portrait: http://thelindleyfamilyhistory.yolasite.com/lindley-history.php
---
Robert Bolling was a “merchant trader” from his earliest days in North America, later becoming a "planter" by buying large tracts of land with the profits of trading as a merchant. Donald W. Linebaugh, the historian who led the effort to locate and preserve Robert Bolling’s plantation home “Kippax” weighs in: “We don't know very much about his merchant trading activities at this point. I have still to research this in England. That said, I don't believe that he traveled back to England at any point. Based on an entry in the diary of Wm. Byrd II, he was still active in trading in 1709. My guess is that he worked with a factor or factors in England and transacted his business via letters carried by returning vessels.”

DONALD W. LINEBAUGH, Ph.D., RPA
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Professor and Area Chair, Graduate Program in Historic Preservation
University of Maryland, School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
Bldg. 145, Room 1247; College Park, MD 20742

Patty Macsisak,

"For your reference, I am attaching a PDF that shows all of the Bolling portraits in the College's collection (please note that at least two are 20th century copies -- William and Mary Randolph).... For further reference, I can provide the provenance that accompanies most of the paintings on the attached PDF and it as follows (first listed is the last owner).”

Mrs. Robert Malcolm Littlejohn (donor to College)
- Daughter of William Nichols Bolling (1830-1898)
- Granddaughter of George W. Bolling (1809-)
- Great-granddaughter of Robert Bolling (1759-)
- GG-granddaughter of Robert Bolling (1730-1775)
- GGG-granddaughter of Robert Bolling (1682-1749)
- GGGG-granddaughter of Robert Bolling (1646-1709) and his 2nd wife, Jane Anne Stith (1665-)
His wife, Mrs. Richard Morris Bolling (née Ann Montgomery Barksdale) (1850-1939)
His son, Richard Morris Bolling (1841-1921)
His son, Thomas Bolling (1807-1889)
Colonel William Bolling of Bolling Hall (1777-1845)
- Son of James Thomas Bolling of Cobbs (1735-1804)
- Grandson of John Kennon Bolling of Cobbs (1700-1757)
- Great grandson of John Fairfax Bolling of Cobbs (1676-1729)
- GG grandson of Robert Bolling (1646-1709) and his 1st wife, Jane Rolfe (1650-1678)

Ref. PDF file and provenance
Melissa Parris
Head of Collections and
Exhibitions Management
Muscarelle Museum of Art
The College of William & Mary

Ref. Bolling genealogy
Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:9CMP-V4K : accessed 2015-05-13), entry for Rebecca Lamb Bolling, submitted by broberts2718714.

Ancestral File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:1:MZV8-8YQ : accessed 2015-05-13), entry for William BOLLING.
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A glimpse of the history of the portraits in the hands of Colonel William Bolling (1777-1845) can be found here: “Ryland Randolph procured from England two portraits – alledged, one to be of John Rolfe and the other of Pocahontas, which were hung in the hall of his seat at Turkey Island. He died in 1784. At the sale of his effects in March, 1784, these pictures were purchased by Thomas Bolling, of “Cobbs,” at a cost of 26s, for the two. William Bolling, son of the last named, inherited “Cobbs,” but sold it, and removed to his estate, “Bolling Hall,” or “Bolling Island,” in Goochland county. He removed all of the family portraits save that alleged to be Pocahontas.”

Thus the provenance of the Bolling family portraits can be extended by at least one generation to James Thomas Bolling of Cobbs (1735-1804) before his son, Colonel William Bolling of Bolling Hall (1777-1845).

Ref. Bolling portraits
Title Collections of the Virginia Historical Society, Volume 7
Volume 147 of American natural history
Collections of the Virginia Historical Society, Virginia Historical Society
Library of American civilization
Author Virginia Historical Society
Publisher Virginia Historical Society, 1888
Original from Harvard University
Page xxxiv

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Jacob Simon,

This discussion, “Could this portrait titled Edmund Waller really depict Robert Bolling? Was it painted by Godfrey Kneller?” has attracted 10 comments between October 2014 and May 2015. In my experience the resemblance to Robert Bolling is fortuitous and not sufficiently close to allow an identification. Further, the resemblance to documented portraits of Edmund Waller is also not particularly close, given that Waller had craggier features and a more pointed face than the soft rounded features of the man portrayed. As Bendor says, it’s likely to be neither Waller nor Bolling (21 January 2015).

Turning to the portrait itself the online reproduction leads me to think that the portrait was originally oval in format as is particularly evident in the bottom left spandrel. It appears to have been slightly trimmed on all sides, probably from a standard 30 x 25 ins, and then enlarged at the four corners to make it rectangular.

Where does this take one on a dormant discussion that originated more than six years ago? I think we can safely answer the discussion question, to the effect that it does not depict Robert Bolling. The identification could be left as Edmund Waller but personally I would describe it as “Unknown man formerly identified as Edmund Waller”.

As to the attribution Bendor is right that it is not by Kneller, so answering the second discussion question. I would be wondering about an artist painting in about 1670 in the orbit of Peter Lely -- not an attribution but an area for research. The collection needs to decide whether to change the attribution to the English school.

A recommendation on closing this discussion needs to come from the Group leaders, Thomas Ardill and Bendor Grosvenor.

Museum of London,

Thanks Jacob. I agree that the original question has been answered sufficiently and it is possible to say that the portrait in question is unlikely to be of Boller or by Kneller.

Jacob Simon,

In my post yesterday, I suggested: "Unknown man formerly identified as Edmund Waller"

Bendor may have advice on whether to adopt "British School" or "Follower of Sir Peter Lely". But this is also about the collection's approach to name authorities.

'British School' and 'Portrait of an Unidentified Gentleman' fits best with how we do things here at the RCAGM. I will make the changes to our collections database and the Art UK entry accordingly.

Jacob Simon,

As you can see from the previous post, the collection has taken action. Group leader Thomas Ardill (12/2/2021) has also lent his support. Time for Art UK to close this 7 year old discussion?

Marcie Doran,

I don't wish to delay the closing, Jacob, but perhaps some information about the donor could be added to the record.

The donor was likely Doris Kathleen James (February 9, 1897–1985[?]). She was the daughter of Devon-born clothing manufacturer Richard James (1867–1951) and his Falmouth-born wife Josephine Selina James, M.B.E. (née Hitchins)(1861–1937). The family home in 1939 was Meadowcroft, Grove Road, Barton-on-Sea.

According to the 'New Milton Advertiser' of June 12, 1937, Mrs. James "was honoured by both the late King George V. and the late King Albert of the Belgians for her humanitarian work in the Great War". She received her M.B.E. in 1918. https://tinyurl.com/3cymvcm8

Doris had two younger sisters: Vera Frances James (1899–1988) and Olive Marion Barber (née James)(1902–1988).

I have attached some background documents from the BNA and Ancestry, including an extract from the 'Rowell / Brankin family tree'. There is no-one with the surname Bolling or Waller in that tree and no photos of paintings.

Jacob Simon,

This discusion is now eight years old. The collection has taken action to amend the title. Group leader Thomas Ardill (12/2/2021) has also lent his support. Time for Art UK to close this discussion which shows no signs of going further. As to the two discussion questions posed, Could this portrait titled 'Edmund Waller' really depict Robert Bolling? Was it painted by Godfrey Kneller? - the answer in both cases is "No".