Forward Maritime Subjects, Portraits: British 18th C, South West England: Artists and Subjects 28 Is this portrait by Thomas Hudson (1701–1779)?

NTI_DSC_104281
Topic: Artist

Fownes was born and raised in Kingswear, Devon, not far from where Hudson lived and worked early in his career.

The posture and composition are the same as in this portrait by Hudson of Giles Eyre: https://bit.ly/3oDFRQw

The same white silk and gilt brocade waistcoat (as well as a similar jacket) can be seen in Hudson's portraits of Rear Admiral Tyrrell and Admiral John Byng, and may well have been studio props:
https://bit.ly/3bs57FE
https://bit.ly/2LM1PSB

Tim Williams, Entry reviewed by Art UK

28 comments

Jacinto Regalado,

Given the sitter's dates, this picture would be from the 1770s, and Hudson reportedly retired in the latter 1750s.

The Tyrell and Byng portraits show both men in naval uniform, specifically the flag-officer's full dress 1748-67. Luttrell is in civilian dress: the fact it is blue with gold braid is simply a coincidence of civilian and naval style, since the latter - of whatever period - reflects general fashion of the time, not least in its 1748 origin: it might have been red or at least with red waistcoats -which was a pre-uniform naval fashion - except that George II is reputed to have seen the Duchess of Bedford out riding in blue and white so specified blue coats and white waistcoats.

Charles Miller,

the latter two are 1747-pattern full dress regulation uniforms, so one would expect the waistcoats to be the same.. looking at the sitters they were very different shapes so I think a prop is unlikely.

Tim Williams,

I don't remember submitting this, but according to my email I did seven years ago!

I've conflated two different HFLs in my original post. The HFL illustrated here grew up at Dunster Castle, therefore Richard Phelps of Porlock should be looked at.

Jacinto Regalado,

This is a little too provincial and probably too late for Hudson. Richard Phelps (who was a pupil of Hudson) is a highly likely artist here. He painted this sitter's grandmother, mother and sister, and was hired by his father (also named Henry Fownes Luttrell) to update the grounds of Dunster Castle (Phelps was also a landscape designer).

Jacinto Regalado,

I suppose a young man like the sitter might have wanted a more fashionable painter for his portrait than the elderly Phelps, but I expect country gentry were less particular about such things than higher-level aristocrats and/or the very rich.

Jacob Simon,

Definitely not by Thomas Hudson (and I catalogued the Hudson exhibition at Kenwood in 1979). Is the sitter correctly identified? Going by the life dates provided, 1753-77, the portrait would have to have been painted in the mid-1770s, by which date it would have been incredibly old-fashioned, both the costume and the inner oval format. The NT collections website gets the size of the picture which I take it is correctly given on Art UK.

Whaley Turco,

So, Not Thomas Hudson. Agreed. Here are 9 paintings by Phelps. https://bit.ly/35FZwrp So, Not him either. If our painter had spent as much time on the Flesh as he did on the Clothing we would know who he is by now.

Whaley, I've fixed the broken links in two of your posts.

A polite request to all contributors, please check that links work before you post and consider using a URL shortener, such as Bitly or TinyURL.

Martin Hopkinson,

Are there any suggestions as to an alterntive sitter as no one has yet challenged Jacob Simon's comments of over 2 years ago? The style of the painting is provincial rather than metropolitan. The excellent Kenwood exhibition opened up understanding of Hudson's virtues - certainly not visible here
What other mid 18th century men who served in the navy can be shown to be connected to the Luttrell family or its connections?
Are there any other West Country portrait painters whom we should be considering? Or is this halt in research terminal?

Martin Hopkinson,

Dunster has a portrait of Edward Dyke of Pixton died 1746 who married into the Luttrell family . Were any of his family naval officers?
Both and his wife were subjects of portraits attributed to Hudson, but probably by another artist.
The other family to explore are the Luttrells of Venn. Did that family die out after Francis Luttrell of Venn [died 1732]?
.

Martin Hopkinson,

Could these portraits be by Enoch Seeman the younger [died 1745] or Isaac Seeman [died 1751]?

Jacinto Regalado,

The sitter could be a different member of the same family, as this was donated by Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Walter Fownes Luttrell in 1981 and was presumably a portrait of one of his ancestors. The purported sitter's father was also named Henry Fownes Luttrell.

Osmund Bullock,

Martin, Pieter wrote above (12/01/2021 17:19) that "... Luttrell [i.e. our sitter] is in civilian dress: the fact it is blue with gold braid is simply a coincidence of civilian and naval style, since the latter - of whatever period - reflects general fashion of the time ...". The same erroneous assumption of naval dress in a portrait of the same period was made in this earlier discussion https://bit.ly/3TrD8Kf , and the matter also clarified then by Pieter.

Jacob Simon,

As Pieter van der Merwe, Maritime Subjects, says (12/01/2021),
"The Tyrell and Byng portraits show both men in naval uniform, specifically the flag-officer's full dress 1748-67. Luttrell is in civilian dress". So we are not hunting for a naval man (Martin, 20/3/2023). As Jacinto says (20/3/2023) the sitter could be a different member of the same family. I recall having a go at the sitter unsuccessfully a year or two ago.

Certainly not by one of the Seemans as a look at Art UK shows. I'll give further thought to the artist.

Osmund Bullock,

Tim Williams confessed (12/01/2021 18:36) that he had confused/ conflated two different Henry Fownes Luttrells in his introductory post. He seems (assuming the sitter's name is correct) to be the HFL who matriculated at Queens' Coll, Oxford in April 1741 aged 17 (i.e. born 1723/4), his name then being Henry Fownes (son of John Fownes of Northway); he later (1770) assumed the additional name and arms of Luttrell.

Jacob Simon,

Osmund may be right but, beware, the identifications of various 18th-century portraits in the collection at Dunster are muddled.

My best estimate for the date of this portrait based on style, costume and wig is 1750s (which also fits the frame style but, caution, frames in country house collections sometimes get swapped). Or a little bit earlier or later.

Osmund Bullock,

Yes, I'm researching him at the moment, Jacinto. The Wikipedia article may or may not be entirely accurate, and I'm checking the details. Certainly the wrong portrait is illustrated there for the man - but that is hardly surprising since, as Jacob cautions, there seems to be confusion on the part of Art UK / the Collection (and probably the family before them) about who is who among their many portraits.

Jacinto Regalado,

This looks more like a follower of Ramsay. I suppose it could conceivably be by his assistant David Martin (b. 1737), albeit not one of his best works, but it could be an early work.

Martin Hopkinson,

not by Martin who was much better than this - I examined a St Andrews thesis on him , decades ago

Osmund Bullock,

Henry Fownes was not of Northway (as wrongly given in Alumni Oxonienses), but of Nethway, Devon...which explains his baptism at nearby Brixham on 24 Aug 1723 (attached). He took the additional name and arms of Luttrell not in 1770 (my error) but in 1747, shortly after his first marriage on 16 Feb 1747 (New Style) at Kingston St Mary, Somerset, to Margaret Luttrell, the heiress of Dunster. He died on 30 or 31 Oct 1780, and was buried at Dunster on 7 Nov, but his Will (written in Jan 1779) was not proved until Sep 1785. It does not mention any specific chattels at all.

Also attached are the relevant pages from Burke's Landed Gentry 1952. It gives little in the way of his life dates, but does clarify the family descents and relationships.

Jacob Simon,

I had a look at Dunster and Luttrell portraits this morning at the NPG Heinz archive. Clearly long a confusing collection portrait-wise.

In a list of portraits at Dunster dating to about 1910 or 1920, our portrait appears to be an unidentified sitter described as "Naval officer, about 1760, 30 x 25, painter unknown, gold like a late Gainsborough, a stringy bob wig, gold lace on uniform rather coarsely painted, and white silk waistcoat." I don't quite understand the reference to late Gainsborough but acknowledge that the portrait in what was then probably an uncleaned state may have given rise to this comment.

So I think the identity of this portrait is open to question and the artist somewhat uncertain, unless it be Richard Phelps. I hope to dig a bit further.

I’d like to close this discussion as new information is unlikely to appear and to thank all the contributors. The artist is certainly not Thomas Hudson. Richard Phelps is still a possibility. The date of the portrait is probably 1750s and he is in civilian dress, not naval. As with many country house portrait collections there is much confusion at Dunster regarding sitters. This sitter may be Henry Fownes Luttrell (1723-1780) who had taken the additional surname Luttrell after his marriage to Margaret Luttrell, heiress of Dunster in 1747.

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