Completed Continental European before 1800, Dress and Textiles, Portraits: British 18th C 94 Who painted this portrait of Edward Longdon Mackmurdo?

Fashion-based dating should be a good starting point. Lou Taylor could help with that.

If this were a pastel I would immediately suggest Hugh Douglas Hamilton. However, as it is oil on canvas I would be more cautious, although I think HDH is still worth considering.

Here is an oval Hamilton of similar size which is also oil on canvas:

https://bit.ly/3x0haS1

I think this portrait dates from c 1775-80.. The style of the hair is very particular and appears in a good few portraits of men at this date- be it in UK, Europe or USA. The style and narrowish depth of the turned down collar of this tailored wool coat and the use of large buttons could well be from 1775-80. (By the 1780s/90s the rise of the collar became higher and higher.)The elegant striped silk waistcoat with its cream-coloured satin revers and the touch of lace on the cravat made this outfit suitable for smart wear. It is not the everyday tailored suit for country use on an English estate.

See for comparison:
1: Alleyne FitzHerbert by Franciszek Smuglewicz; c 1775 WIKIMEDIA.
2: James Christie by Gainsborough, 1778 Getty Centre no 70.PA.16.
3: The Right Honourable Charles Philip Yorke (1764–1834); 1779-80;
National Trust, 207768.
4: Sir Henry Bate- Dudley by Gainsborough 1780; Pinterestr.

Sadly our website would not accept these 4 images but they are all available on Google

The sitter would have been 24 in 1780, so c. 1780 seems about right.

Hugh Douglas Hamilton moved to Italy (Rome) in 1779, where he began working in oil and became a successful portraitist of Irish and British visitors. He remained there until 1791, when he moved to Dublin. Does the collection know if the sitter visited Rome?

Of course, it is possible that Hamilton used oils on occasion while he was based in London before going to Italy. The picture I linked above appears to be one such example.

We need more information on the sitter, but he looks like a young man who could have gone on the Grand Tour, which would certainly have included Rome.

The sitter, as named, does not appear in the Ford/Ingamells dictionary of British and Irish travellers in Italy 1701-1800.

Could this be by Francis Alleyne who was painting up to 1790 and used this small oval format ?

This portrait strikes me as above Alleyne's level (as Hamilton was), though he is not out of the question.

In 1936, Frank Brangwyn and Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo donated
“..as a gift to the Borough of Walthamstow of the nucleus of an art collection to be founded there in the Memory of William Morris.”
The collection was to be kept in Water House which was to be called the ‘William Morris Gallery’ when the building was due to become available.
i)Mr Brangwyn’s Gift - The Scotsman, May 2, 1936
Tribute to William Morris - Chelmsford Chronicle, 15 May, 1936
Exhibition at Walthamstow - Chelmsford Chronicle, 15 January, 1937


Does the museum have access to the original documentation or accession files of the donations from Frank Brangwyn and Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo, to the Borough of Walthamstow?
Even though this painting was transferred from Walthamstow Library, I expect that it may have come from the same source as other items already in the Vestry Museum and the William Morris Gallery. Over time, It may have become separated from the main part of the collection to other sites within the Borough.

The sitter in this portrait is Edward Longden Mackmurdo of Hackney, the grandfather of Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo. (The birth and death dates also correspond with the official documents, but there is no mention of the name Lloyd.)

There are also two more portraits of Edward and Ann Mackmurdo in the Collection of the Vestry Museum. These are the portraits of A.H. Mackmurdo’s parents.
There were a number of generations of Edward Mackmurdo’s. A. H. Mackmurdo also had an older brother called Edward Longden Mackmurdo.
ii) Mackmurdo family documents

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/edward-mackmurdo-135281/view_as/grid/search/keyword:edward-mackmurdo/page/1

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/ann-mackmurdo-135280

The surname Longdon appears to have inexplicably changed throughout the text above as Longden. The name, as seen in the majority of official documentation is correct as Longdon, although the name of Ann Mackmurdo (other portrait in the Vestry Museum) is officially recorded as having an e.

The collection will look at Elin's request for further information next week, after one of the curators returns from leave.

There is a Edward Longdon Mackmurdo -living at Fornham St Martin-who enlisted in the RMC at the beginning of WW! at Ipswich.
http://undyingmemory.net/FornhamAS/mackmurdo-edward.html
As to the artist-as someone mentioned the Grand Tour- how about someone french like Joseph Duplessis or Elizabeth Vigee leBrun???

Please could the collection let us know if the canvas and its stretcher are actually oval or if the image shown is within a painted oval on a rectangular canvas. In any case it would be helpful to have even a digital snap of the portrait in its frame and to know of any clues on the reverse.

This looks close to Henry Walton (1746-1813). Compare his portraits of Sir Edmund Bacon (Emmanuel Coll) and Sir Robert Buxton (1753–1839), 1st Bt (Norfolk Mus. Serv.) - both on ArtUk. Richard correctly identifies the pastel-like tonality which does indeed call to mind Hamilton's pastels, but, in oils, is typical of the much under-rated Walton.

Is it possible that the painting was by Joseph Wright of Derby (British 1734-1797)?

Lyon and Turnbull auction house stated in the Joseph Wright entry (lot 223) for its Nov 18, 2020 auction:
“Joseph Wright is one of the most successful artists of the Age of Enlightenment, known primarily for his atmospheric paintings using chiaroscuro in order to emphasise the contrast of light and dark. Born to a prosperous family in Derby on 3rd September 1734, Wright moved to London in 1751 with ambitions of becoming a painter. For two years, he studied under the portrait painter Thomas Hudson, who also counted Joseph van Aken and Joshua Reynolds amongst his students. Wright then returned to Derby, and besides some notable periods away such as Liverpool from 1768 to 1771 and Italy from 1773 to 1775, he always found himself called back to his hometown, where he lived until his death in 1797.”

I am attaching:
Portrait of Henry Flint (face, curls, neckerchief, collar, lace)
Portrait of Old John Tonson Head Waiter at the King’s Head Inn, Derby (face, curls, neckerchief, collar)

I have also attached A Portrait of Joseph Wright of Derby held by the Yale Centre for British Art that is presently attributed to Richard Hurleston (British, active 1763-1780) but which used to be attributed to Joseph Wright of Derby.

Please google Portrait of Hugh Wood (collar, striped waistcoat with folds).

I am writing from Vestry House Museum, thank you all for your interest in this painting and your help to identify the painter. We have checked the labels on the back of the work but they provide very few clues as to identity of the author.

I have attached images here of the front and back of the framed painting and details of each of the labels. There is also an inscription on the back of the canvas which can be seen but is very faint and hard to read.

Please let us know if you are able to decipher the text on the back of the work, from what I can tell it reads 'Edw' Longdon Mackmurdo Esq'/painted at Se*** S*****/for £179/****** 21x25'

Brilliant to have these images, thanks to the museum. The inscription reads along the following lines:

Edwd Longdon Mackmurdo Esqr [final d and r raised up]
painted at Ge**** [Geneva?] S?*****
in 1779
Octor 21 a 25 [final r raised up]

If this was painted in Geneva in 1779, it raises the possibility of the artist being Jean-Étienne Liotard.

could be Genoa?
We need a view on the costume

I don't believe this is by Liotard, nice though it is. Nor do I think the inscription says Genoa. It is just possible that the second line ends with a two word name of the artist, I suppose. The date of the picture, 1779, fits well with Lou's dating of the costume (6 June). I suspect that the costume is English, brought by the sitter on his travels.

Geneva Saneva if that makes sense?

Whats that trick they use on Fake or Fortune to read marks on the back of paintings? Was it Ultra Violet light???

I suspect the painter’s name was near the top of the verso (starting where the smudges are).

In defence of the painter being Joseph Wright of Derby, please see the attachment. It is from the website Eldreds.com. “JOSEPH WRIGHT OF DERBY, English, 1734-1797, Portrait Of A Man., Oil On Board, Oval 11¼" X 9¼" Sight. Framed.”

The verso shows the same short “1” for the “1795” and the same style of “7”. It also shows a similar word plus two number combination (“aetate 46.47”. The word “aetate” means age. Therefore, I believe that part of the inscription is not the date starting with “Octor” but “Aetate 21.25”. This would make sense given that Edward was born in 1756.

I wonder if the second line of the inscription reads:

"painted at Geneva Geneva"

The first 'Geneva' being indistinct, it was repeated in larger, clearer letters. It's not easy writing on the reverse of a canvas if you lack experience.

I agree: Geneva Geneva

On the basis that this portrait was painted in Geneva, who might be the artist? A search using the term "portrait" of the collection of the Geneva museum of art and history throws up a number of possible candidates, which I list on the quickest preliminary assessment in a sort of order for consideration. Not that I know about portraiture in Switzerland at this date. Yet one has to start somewhere.

Jean-Pierre Saint-Ours (Genève, 1752 - Genève, 1809)

Jens Juel (Gamborg Figen ou Balslev, 1745 - Copenhague, 1802), who was in Geneva in 1779

Guillaume-Henri Potter (Genève, 1760 - Genève, 1839)

Louis-Ami Arlaud-Jurine (Genève, 1751 - Genève, 1829)

Jean Preudhomme (Peseux, 1732 - Neuchâtel, 1795)

Jacob- I have been looking at the work of the artists you list. Louis Jurine seems to have a similar style ,but only seems to paint miniatures.
I have come across Jean Liotard who did oils,but prefered pastels-who's work looks very similar.
And of course Angelica Kaufmann was Swiss, but where she was in 1779 I don't know.

For your consideration, a French printer named Pierre-Michel Alix produced works based on the work of painter Jean-François Garnerey. See for example the following print of many in a museum in Geneva:
“Portrait de Jean-Jacques Rousseau”
AUTEUR(S)
Pierre-Michel Alix ( Paris, 1762 - Paris, 1817 ), graveur
Jean-François Garnerey ( Paris, 1755 - Auteuil, 1837 ), auteur modèle
Marie-François Drouhin ( Périodes d'activité : Paris, 1791 à 1813 ), éditeur
DATATION 1791
DIMENSIONS feuille: 272 x 234 mm (ovale)
MATÉRIAUX aquatinte, impression en couleurs au repérage
MENTION OBLIGATOIRE MAH Musée d'art et d'histoire, Ville de Genève. Ancien fonds
NUMÉRO D'INVENTAIRE E 2011-0113
https://collections.geneve.ch/mah/oeuvre/portrait-de-jean-jacques-rousseau/e-2011-0113

Pierre-Michel Alix also produced prints based on the work of Charles Philippe Amédée Van Loo.

Here is one of Van Loo’s works at the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C.
“Soap Bubbles, 1764”
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.32579.html

Note the curl on the middle child’s head matches the curl in the mystery painting.

I notice this image has dissapeared for copyright reasons! I wanted to look because I noticed an amazing similarity to the image of Prince Frederick Adolf and I wanted to compare them!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Frederick_Adolf,_Duke_of_Östergötland

A message for ArtUK

This portrait was painted in Geneva in 1779. On this basis I suggest that the portrait should no longer be in my group for 19th century portraits. It might be added to the group for continental paintings.

What has happened to the image of this portrait at the head of this discussion?

I wonder if the inscription on the reverse should be read as 'painted at Genova Genova' (the Italian name for Genoa)? Genova was a well-established point of entry into Italy for British and Irish Grand Tourists arriving by sea and it seems more likely that Mackmurdo would find himself there than in Geneva. If the portrait was indeed painted in Genova, in 1779, this would bring British and Irish artists back into consideration, as well as allowing for the possibility of an Italian hand. It is worth noting that Hugh Douglas Hamilton moved to Italy in 1779 (and stayed there, mainly in Rome but also in Florence, Venice and Naples until 1792), as stated by Fintan Cullen in the Oxford DNB and other publications.

The Imaging team have restored the image, apologies for any inconvenience. The discussion has been added to the Continental before 1800 Group and removed from 19th Century British Portraits.

The inscription on the reverse of the portrait is in English so I think “Geneva” is more likely than “Genova” (Richard’s post, 12 July).

It would be worth contacting “Collections des Musées d'art et d'histoire” at Geneva for advice as to the artist. There is an email address on their website. I can do this next week unless someone signals in the meantime that they are on the case.

Chris Rumelin might be able to advise as to which of his colleagues would be the most appropriate contact there

Very helpful, Martin. I have his email address so can do as you suggest

it might be worth asking Duncan Bull at the Rijksmuseum for his
opinion

I have now e-mailed Chris Rumelin at the Geneva museum.

The problem with the inscription reading "Geneva Geneva" is that the writing is neatly centred, which would seem to make the idea of a correction unlikely . The more I look at it the more I see the second word as "Street"

Oliver raises the question of the inscription. I suspect that it was written in two parts. Firstly, "Edwd Longdon Mackmurdo", centred, and in a stylish hand. Secondly, the remaining details. ‘Street’ is worth considering but personally I don’t think this works.

I have had a helpful response with suggestions from Christopher Rumelin at the Geneva museum. On the artist, he has suggested two colleagues to approach which I shall try to follow up but this will take time. On whether there might be a record of the sitter in Geneva, he writes:

“Unfortunately there is - to my knowledge - no record of people visiting Geneva during the 18th century. If there are any records, this might be at the Archives de l'Etat (state archive), please see their website: https://ge.ch/archives/

There is another source: the manuscript collection (including private papers) at the municipal and university library, it is always worth checking with them as well: https://archives.bge-geneve.ch/archive/catalogue/inventaires/tous-les-inventaires/n:89

I don't think you will find anything in the municipal archives, they are too young (founded only mid 19th century).”

On a quick search, I’ve had no luck with the two collections above

Here are some more photographs of the inscription on the back of the canvas, including some close-ups and different angles. The text is still very hard to decipher though!

Jacinto and Louis both mentioned that this might be by Liotard. I am wondering why it could not be by him.

Christie’s had a pastel by Liotard (“Portrait of Philibert Cramer”) in an auction in January 2021. There are two photos and a long write-up about Liotard on that entry. The write-up states: “The portrait of Cramer is thought to have been made around 1758, shortly after Liotard’s return to Geneva from Holland, when Philibert was about thirty years old.”

“JEAN-ETIENNE LIOTARD (Geneva 1702-1789)
Portrait of Philibert Cramer
with period frame and glass
pastel on blue paper, mounted on canvas
25 x 211⁄4 in. (63.5 x 53.8 cm)”
https://tinyurl.com/25jeamk7

Despite the work being a pastel, the sitter has frothy white lace below his collar that is very similar to the lace in the MackMurdo portrait. The photo of the verso shows the date “1779” - its appearance is very similar to the “1779” on the verso of the portrait of MackMurdo. In addition, the flourishes on the names seem to match the style used for MackMurdo’s name (the flourish on the “L” of “Longdon” is like the one on the P” of “Philibert”). And, the artist did not sign his name in that section of the verso. Finally, the spacing of the lines of text seems to be quite similar.

I have attached composites to assist with the comparison.

My third attachment is the failed attachment from my comment of 17/06/2021 @ 18:15

The two words following "Painted at" remain uncertain, and the first word may not be Geneva.

I revert to my post of 10/07/2021 that as this portrait is dated 1779, it should no longer be in the group for 19th century portraits. It might be added to the group for continental paintings since it was painted in Geneva or elsewhere on the Continent on the basis of the inscription on the revese.

Jacob, have removed from 19th Century Portraits group; it is within the Continental before 1800 group. Regards, David

Of the five artists working in Geneva listed by Jacob two years ago (18/06/2021) I think it would be worth considering Jean Preudhomme or Preud’homme (Peseux, 1732 - Neuchâtel, 1795) – if only because in 1774, five years before the date of our portrait, he certainly painted a British traveller, while in Geneva. The sitter in question was the young Douglas, 8th Duke of Hamilton, who appears in Preudhomme’s portrait (National Museum of Scotland) alongside his tutor DrJohn Moore and the latter’s son, also John, with Lake Geneva glimpsed through a, window in the background:

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/douglas-8th-duke-of-hamilton-on-his-grand-tour-184991

Works by Preudhomme seem to be rare but here are two portraits by him of unknown male sitters, said to date from 1777 and 1781 respectively, in the Musée d’art et d’histoire, Geneva:

https://www.mahmah.ch/collection/oeuvres/portrait-de-jeune-homme/1910-0064

https://www.mahmah.ch/collection/oeuvres/portrait-dhomme/1910-0044

And this portrait of Franz Rudolf Frisching by Preudhomme is said to date from 1785:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Franz_Rudolf_Frisching.jpg

Chris Rumelin should have a verey well informed view on Richard's suggestion For he was a curator at Geneva for quite a number of years. He is now in Nuremberg , and I may see him online on Tuesday evening
I personally wonder if this artist under discussion painted miniatures
Perhaps Stephen Lloyd at Knowsley might have a view?

I like Richard's suggestion of Preudhomme.

I was in touch with Chris Rumelin about this picture in August 2021. I will forward his email to Martin. What follows is an excerpt. Because email addresses for his two suggested contacts were not available, I let the matter rest.

EXCERPT:
"Thank you so much for this intriguing question and bringing to my attention this lovely portrait. What puzzles me a bit is the inscription in English, which - at least to me - clearly indicates another hand than the painter itself. But this would not be totally strange either.

Unfortunately there is - to my knowledge - no record of people visiting Geneva during the 18th century. If there are any records, this might be at the Archives de l'Etat (state archive), please see their website: https://ge.ch/archives/

There is another source: the manuscript collection (including private papers) at the municipal and university library, it is always worth checking with them as well: https://archives.bge-geneve.ch/archive/catalogue/inventaires/tous-les-inventaires/n:89 . I don't think you will find anything in the municipal archives, they are too young (founded only mid 19th century)

However, there are probably two collegues who might be of help:

Anne de Herdt, former Keeper of drawings and specialist in Saint-Ours. ......

Or Mrs Renée Loche. She is one of the authors of the Liotard Catalogue raisonnée and knows very well portraiture in Geneva at the time. .....

However, I will pass on your mail to Estelle Fallet, Keeper of watches and miniatures, maybe she has another idea.

I hope you don't mind if I do not dare to suggest an attribution, there are more competent colleagues. If there is anything else, I can do, please do let me know."

The sitter was involved in cases of the Court of Chancery in 1804 and 1821 - v Janet Wimperley, and v Stephen Emerson and his wife, Thoms Matchwick and William Grove [National Archives]
He was a linen draper of 1 Bread Street, Cheapside insured in 1790 with the Sun Fire Office [London Metropolitan Archives]
The very neat dress may be connected to his profession
He was living in Bread Street in 1796 when his daugter Isabella was born
Paine family tree gives his dates 1756 - 1817
Macmurdo & Hicks calico printers were at 2 Bread Street in 1794
Kent's Directory for the year 1794

It might be worth looking at the footnotes inChristian Simon and Lee Mitzman's article on 18th century calico printers in the International Review of Social History, 39, supplement 2, 1994, pp. 115-44

There is a history of the Worshipful Company of Drapers of London, 1989 - and an earlier one 1914-22
also 1804 The Memorial of the Journeyman calico printers ...

Jacob is the frame Swiss?

I've attached further attempts to make the inscription clearer and an image of the painting that may be better than the online one.

Whoever the artist is, the abbreviations in the inscription suggest a native speaker. Someone newly arrived from Italy (for example), full of the experience and recently immersed in the language, might well choose to use original place names though.

To try to answer Martin's question in the last post but one, the frame was made for the picture. The details of the frame reverse posted by the collection on 17/06/2021 are largely obscured by paper but one of them may show oak grain, possibly indicating a continental origin. The pattern is not a classical one of the sort that one might expect to find on a portrait of this date. I don't have the knowledge to say that this frame is - or is not - Swiss.

The Victoria and Albert Museum's curators of dress might be able to say whether the costume is of a Swiss cut

Was the sitter on a business trip to Geneva?

some British parents sent their children to Geneva for their education for a Protestant rather than Catholic teaching

I made my comments on our site about the really elegant and fashionable clothes in this portrait on 6/6/21. I have not changed my mind since.....

The design of the costume is distinctly different from the dress in the four portraits mentioned above, although it is generically related
Does the Geneva museum have a costume historian?

I used a portrait of John Mortlock (1755-1816) by John Downman dated 1779, in my composite. It shows another example of what a wealthy young man would have been wearing that year in England.

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/john-mortlock-17551816-mayor-of-cambridge-13-times-48663/

can someone find a good comparison for the waistcoat?

My sense is that we have a portrait here of a young man on the Grand Tour but probably staying in Geneva for a time, whether for pleasure or education or, as Martin asks, business He could have acquired his fancy waistcoat in London, in Paris on the way through France or in Italy. Even if we find a good comparison for the waistcoat, I don't think that it will take us very far to answering the question posed in this discussion as to who painted the portrait.

Martin, I did just that on this discussion two years ago!!! see Lou Taylor, Dress and Textiles, 06/06/2021 20:32

Thank you reminding me of this, and Jacob for your reasonable comments

Although it won't help with the name of the artist, a sermon by Robert Aspland in 1817 about Edward Longdon Mackmurdo might shed some light on Mackmurdo's life. Maybe someone could locate it.

https://tinyurl.com/kb93wsek

Edward Longdon** Mackmurdo (1756-1817) seems unlikely to have been a Grand Tourist in the normal sense. His family background was non-conformism, trade and hard work, not established aristocratic wealth. They did well and gradually accumulated capital and some real estate during the C18th, but there is no suggestion of great wealth, and certainly not during his youth - not least because the family habit (normal among dissenters) was to distribute the property after death equally among all the children, male and female. His father Gilbert Gibson Mac(k)murdo (1727-1760) was a successful City grocer of the Salters' Company, with premises close to St Paul's; his short and straightforward Will suggests both his wife and mother had brought modest dowries with them, but the family continued to live simply in London, possibly above (and certainly close to) the shop. GGM also had property in Essex, probably inherited from his father Gilbert (d.1737), but seems not to have lived there, and this along with the rest of his estate was ordered to be sold and the proceeds ultimately divided among all his surviving offspring, "share and share alike".

[**The middle name, his mother's maiden surname, is universally recorded as Longdon or similar – 'Lloyd' must be the remnant of a cataloguing error or misreading at some point.]

By the late 1780s ELM had followed his father into trade - initially as a linen draper in the City, later (as Martin has shown) a calico printer, with works and bleaching fields at Old Ford on the River Lea, then as a Blackwell-Hall factor in the City (significant as that business required considerable capital, though he seems to have got involved during its declining years - see https://tinyurl.com/5c5nbt9j), and finally as a manufacturing chemist based in Stratford; and he is also just listed as a 'merchant' in the heart of the City in many directories from the 1780s through to the end of his life. His multi-faceted business was clearly very successful, and he built up significant wealth during his lifetime (including a home and perhaps estate at Clapton). But like his father before him, he chose to distribute this wealth equally to all his children and their families (he had married in 1789), so no great fortune was established in one branch; and he remained true to his dissenting roots throughout his life.

I am still working on him. There's a great deal discoverable (and inferable) about him online, but so much that the process is proving unusually long and arduous - more a subject for an academic thesis than a straightforward AD summary biog, but I'll plough on and write up further details as and when I can. I haven't even started on newspapers! There are ways in which he might perhaps have been linked with Geneva, but as yet there's no actual evidence for it at all. His Will of Aug 1816 (and Sep codicil) is, as is usual, concerned only with cash, investments and real estate - there is no mention of pictures even in general terms among household goods, let alone references to specific ones. Nor is there any hint of overseas business, property or connections, past or present.

The sermon in his memory noted by Darcie would doubtless elucidate matters - I guess that it will reveal financial generosity to the wider community, not just his family.

Thank you for the very interesting summary, Osmund. Last July, I checked the wills of the following people for this portrait without success: Edward Longdon Esq. (d. 30 April 1866), Edward Mackmurdo (d. 9 March 1872), Longdon Mackmurdo, Esq. (d. 1 October 1880), and Walter George Mackmurdo (d. 25 Aug. 1894). Earlier today, I ordered the wills of Frederick Thomson Mackmurdo (d. 22 October 1928) and Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo (d. 15 March 1942).

In an article entitled ‘Cotton Manufacture in Switzerland and Southern Germany,15th-18th Centuries’ (i.e. before the Industrial Revolution), Ulrich Pfister writes (page 5), in connection with calico printing, of 'the establishment of a number of production sites along the eastern border of France from the late 17th century onwards, the most important centres being Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Basle, Neuchâtel and Geneva, but also Augsburg and Zurich' -- where 'important calico printing sectors' were developed 'in the course of the 18th century'.

https://www.lse.ac.uk/Economic-History/Assets/Documents/Research/GEHN/Helsinki/HELSINKIPfister.pdf

It would seem that Mackmurdo’s continental tour was indeed not one of sites of art and culture, but of calico printing works, in preparation for development of his own textile business. There is thus every reason to accept that his portrait was painted in Geneva, as indicated by the inscription on the reverse. The repetition there of 'Geneva' might well have been intentional from the outset, to indicate the city of Geneva in the Canton of Geneva.

Nicole Quellet-Soguel, a curator at the Musée d'art et d'histoire, Neuchâtel, published an article ‘Jean-Pierre Preudhomme (1732-1795), premier peintre neuchâtelois, et sa clientèle suisse et européenne’ in the exhibition catalogue ‘Sa Majesté en Suisse : Neuchâtel et ses princes prussiens’ of 2013. I shall try to contact her. Even if Preudhomme is not our artist she may have other suggestions.

At the very least I think we can now say that our elusive artist was almost certainly Swiss.

A search of Liotard’s works at the Musée d’art et d’histoire, Geneva, led me to this work dated 1779.

https://www.mahmah.ch/collection/oeuvres/portrait-de-marie-jeanne-liotard-future-madame-francois-de-bassompierre-1761

The attached composite is based on an extract from an image on Wikimedia Commons.

https://tinyurl.com/ycya6ud4

Has anyone been able to make sense of the text on the torn label (17/06/2021 13:01 - img-20210616-170119-1). Why would Benjamin Disraeli and his tutor Dr. Cogan be mentioned on the label? In 1876, John Hopkins Pugh married Agnes Helen Mackmurdo but why would a member of the Pugh family be mentioned on the label?

https://tinyurl.com/3ry5uer4

Dr Cogan was the teacher of the surgeon Gilbert Mackmurdo b.1799), who was, I believe, the son of Edward Longdon Mackmurdo.
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GCEV_enGB1066GB1066&q=cogan+gilbert+mackmurdo&tbm=bks&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiv85Sj_YOAAxV4QEEAHQP4CWQQ0pQJegQIQxAB&biw=1920&bih=969&dpr=1&safe=active&ssui=on

Thank you, Oliver!

I have just received the will of the sitter's grandson Frederick Thomson Mackmurdo (d. 22 October 1928). He bequeathed this portrait to his sister Agnes Helen Pugh (née Mackmurdo).

I have not been able to contact Nicole Quellet-Soguel at the Musée d'art et d'histoire, Neuchâtel, by e-mail as she has recently retired from her position there. However I have written to her privately by traditional post and hope to report back soon.

Meanwhile her successor at the museum, Diane Antille, has kindly supplied a copy of Madame Quellet-Soguel’s article on Jean-Pierre Preudhomme of 2013, mentioned in my post of 09/07/2023.

From this we learn that the Neuchatel-born Preudhomme trained in Paris under Leprince and Grueuze. He returned to his home city, where he was based thereafter, while necessarily working elsewhere, including in Geneva, since Neuchâtel alone could not provide sufficient patronage to support him. He knew and greatly admired Rousseau, whose portrait he offered to paint.

The author discusses Preudhomme’s patrons in various distinct categories. Most interestingly, in a paragraph headed ‘Personnalités du négoce et de l’industrie‘ (Figures in trade and industry), we learn that the artist’s portrait sitters included members of ‘plusieurs grandes familles d’indiennes’ – meaning the proprietors (and their families) of factories where textiles were painted or printed in the Indian style. The ‘indiennes’ were big business in Neuchâtel and the region in the eighteenth century - in other words the calico printing activity described in Ulrich Pfister”s article. The captains of this industry and their families who sat to Preudhomme were the kind of local people Mackmurdo is most likely to have met on his assumed fact-finding tour of calico printing works. It is thus possible that through one of their number Mackmurdo came to sit to Preudhomme (if indeed he is our artist),

I now attach the article on Jean-Pierre Preudhomme.

Sorry, Marcie, I see I called you 'Darcie' on here three or four weeks ago. It was half a spoonerism - Darcie Moran is a very plausible name, in fact there's a real one online! - but | think unconsciously influenced by a review I'd just read comparing Pride & Prejudice screen adaptations.

Hey, no need to apologize, Osmund! Glad you're back posting again.

My apologies for not reporting back sooner on this but I have been busy with other projects. I did succeed in contacting Nicole Quellet-Soguel and she has provided a very full and helpful response, for which we are grateful. Her initial impression was that the portrait is not by J.-P. Preudhomme and after careful consideration she confirmed this assessment (unless, by chance, the work were to be an atypical one for the artist), making the following particular points:

1. She knows of no example of a front view among Preudhomme's portraits. They are usually profile or three-quarter views.

2. Here the canvas texture is exposed because the paint layer is relatively thin whereas in Preudhomme's portraits the paint covers the canvas more completely and the weave of the latter is not visible.

3. Mackmurdo's face is painted with fairly vigorous brushstrokes demonstrating a certain freedom and directness of touch – particularly in the way the pale pink is applied under the left eye and at the corner of and above the right eye. The same is true of the pale pink reflecting light across the bridge of the nose. On the other hand, in Preudhomme, who was fully mastering his art in the 1770s, the faces are painted with great finesse, the colours melt into each other, the brushstrokes are barely visible, and there is a great concern for the finish. For an example of the refined technique of Preudhomme, especially in painting the face, Mme Quellet-Soguel directs us to his portrait of M. Pierre-Henri de Meuron, of 1780, in the Neuchâtel museum:

https://collections.mahn.ch/fr/notice/ap-950-portrait-de-m-pierre-henri-de-meuron-036306b6-f032-4db7-a3b0-d570ab148f27

Mme Quellet-Soguel suggests for the authorship of our picture perhaps Jean-Pierre Saint-Ours, who occasionally painted portraits from the front, or almost the front, and with a rather dynamic touch. See the online collections of the Musée d'art et d'histoire de Genève:

https://www.mahmah.ch/collection/recherche?search_api_fulltext=jean pierre saint ours

Younger than Preudhomme, Saint-Ours was in Paris in the 1770s, then in Rome, and did not return to Geneva until 1792. Could he have been in Geneva in 1779 (when aged 27)? Mme Quellet-Soguel suggests the opinion of Anne de Herdt, a leading specialist in Saint-Ours, would be worth seeking - as well as for other possibilities in Geneva. She suggest Danielle Buyssens as also being very familiar with Geneva's eighteenth-century cultural scene.

I do not have e-mail addresses for Anne de Herdt or Danielle Buyssens but, one way or another, will attempt to make contact with them.

Thanks to Marion, I have learned that Anne de Herdt died in November last year. However I have managed to contact Danielle Buyssens through the Institut national genevois (INGE) and received an interesting and helpful response – albeit perhaps a surprising one – for which we are most grateful.

‘Ce portrait est magnifique!’ is the immediate reaction of Mme Buyssens. However, to her eyes it looks very English. She cannot see it, if a work of 1779, as being by any of the known Geneva painters. Preudhomme, despite his talent, would not be convincing, nor would Liotard since the portrait does not demonstrate the latter’s very particular kind of realism. Jens Juel could be considered but something about the flesh tones is not right for him and he likes ‘mises en scène précieuses’.

She advises us to continue searching for an English artist travelling on the Continent and not to discard too readily the possible interpretation of the place name inscribed on the reverse as ‘Genova’ (= Genoa). Perhaps the apparent repetition of the name could actually be ’Savona’ but she would not wish to press this suggestion too far. In any case, our possible interpretation of the double ‘Geneva’ as meaning the city within the canton of the same name cannot be correct, if the inscription dates from near 1779, as Geneva was not then part of Switzerland and the canton of Geneva did not exist until the nineteenth century..

Edward Longdon Mackmurdo (1756-1817)

Despite diligent research by Richard Green, Osmund Bullock and others during the last three years, the authorship of this fine portrait remains a puzzle.

THE INSCRIPTION. I continue to think Geneva is the most likely reading. I suggested that the last line reads “Octor 21 a 25 [final r raised up]” (17 June 2021). But this is open to review.

THE ARTIST. Despite consulting continental experts we have failed to make progress. Short of a fortuitous breakthrough I suspect that it will be difficult to make further progress.

THE SITTER. Osmund has identified our man as not the usual Grand Tourist but possibly on business (8 July 2023). Could the way forward be through the sitter? One would like to think that there may be family papers or that our man may have been mentioned in Geneva newspapers or other documentation. But this is a demanding route to follow. On family papers, I could find nothing obvious in the standard online archive listings. On Geneva newspapers I drew a blank using the online, E-NewspaperArchives.CH.

Sad not to be able to identify the artist of this attractive portrait.

I summarised the state of play on this fine portrait in January, as above. Sadly the answer to the discussion question, "Who painted this portrait of Edward Longdon Mackmurdo?" is that we do not know. I recommend that this discussion now be closed by adding the year painted, 1779 (as revealed, 17/06/2021).

It’s likely that part of the inscription is "painted at Genève Geneva" (see Jacob 17/06/2021 18:57).

Thank you, Jacob. I am just checking back with Osmund before I close it. Unfortunately, the very large amount of work he has already done may need too much more time to write up for the discussion before the 28th.

I will keep this discussion open until 26 June, because Osmund would like to try to add more about the sitter before it closes.

I have never been convinced by the reading of those two words in the rear inscription as ‘Geneva’ – well, certainly not the second one, which surely must begin with a capital ‘S’? An enhancement of one of the images (attached) suggests that the canvas could have suffered significant damp damage, and that someone may subsequently have tried to strengthen what was left of the original wording with exceptional clumsiness – and worse still, was unable to read some of what they saw and ‘copied’ it wrongly. I’m not even sure that the word ‘painted’ is that, though an alternative reading escapes me.

At one stage I thought it might be ‘married’, though the dates given (is that October or could it be April?) do not accord with Edwd Longdon Mackmurdo’s marriage, which was on 21st Sept 1789. I surmised that the two different dates might be the result of his nonconformism – one marriage as legally required in a C of E church, with another ceremony a few days later under the auspices of some dissenting congregation (he was initially independent/ congregationalist, though later followed Priestley’s new denomination of unitarianism). But it would take a lot of mistakes to turn 1789 into 1779, September to Oct (or April), and Stoke Newington (his C of E wedding church) into whatever it is we cannot read. Coincidentally, his eldest nephew, Ebenezer junr, was baptized in April 1779 (the 27th), but I think that’s a red herring.

So I have nothing better to offer than the current 'Geneva/Geneve twice', however unlikely that is.

Sorry, that image turns out too big or too small. I'll try a smaller version.

Richard Green’s idea of a continental tour of calico printing works, including Geneva in 1779, in preparation for development of his own textile business is attractive; but we have no evidence at all of any travel abroad, and in my view the sequence of his life events in England makes it unlikely.

I have been seeking him out in many archival sources, and there follows the best timeline of his earlier years (up to 1795), esp. in the business context, that I can muster. I was wrong, incidentally, to say (08/07/2023 02:16) that he was later a Blackwell Hall factor – that was a nephew and namesake, son of his elder brother Ebenezer.

Re the dates of trade directories, bear in mind that they were often based on information gathered before the nominal year, and indeed sometimes copied from earlier editions and/or competing companies – so the year may not always be reliable.

1756 Aug 29 ELM baptised at King’s Weigh House chapel.
1760 May 11 Father Gilbert Gibson Mackmurdo buried Bunhill Fields.
1771 Dec 10 (registration) Apprenticed to Harrison & Co (aka Harrisons & Ansley), merchants @52 Bread St. They were still in business in 1778.
1776 ELM admitted as member of the Soc. for Promoting Religious Knowledge among the Poor.
1777 [no date] Sun Fire Policy Edward Longdon Mackmurdo, Linen Draper @131 Cheapside.
1777 [no date] Sun Fire Policy Chas Greaves, ELM, Wm Hodgson, Linen Drapers @131 Cheapside.
1778 [Lowndes’ Diry] ELM now in business as Greaves, Mackmurdo & Hodgson, linen drapers @131 Cheapside. Apparently new firm – no sign of pre-existing partnership of G&H alone.
1779-1787 [Kent’s, Lowndes’, etc] GM&H continues at 131 Cheapside, linen drapers or sometimes merchants. Also further Sun Fire Office policies.
1788 Jan 10 ELM apparently already involved in Calico printing as one of three partners in firm of John Smith & Co, with works at Old Ford. See Old Bailey proceedings https://tinyurl.com/3y2x72v7.
1788 [Lowndes] Smith & Co Callico Warehouse @1 Bread Street. Sole entry for the firm.
1788 [Kent, Lowndes] G&H on their own now in business as Greaves, Hodgson & Co, wholesale linen drapers @132 Cheapside. Firm continues at same address thereafter.
1788 [Lowndes] ELM alone, linen draper @131 Cheapside.
1788-89 Listed as member of Society of Arts - address Cheapside.
1789 Sep 21 ELM (of All Hallows, Bread St) marries Elizabeth Blissett @Stoke Newington (her parish)
1789-91 [Kent, Lowndes] ELM alone, linen draper @1 Bread Street. Sometimes listed as ‘merchant’.
1791-92 Land Tax @Bread Street Ward (All Hallows, Upper Precinct). Further Sun Fire policies.
1792 [Kent] E L Mackmurdo & Co, merchants @1 Bread Street.
1792 Jan 4 [London Gazette] Partnership of ELM, Robt Price & Francis Hickes as E L Mackmurdo & Co, wholesale drapers, etc, dissolved – now ELM and Hickes only.
1793 Jan 20 ELM in partnership with Hickes & 2 others (Lane & Theobalds) as calico printers at Old Ford. See Old Bailey proceedings https://tinyurl.com/442tu2ka
1793 [Kent / Lowndes] ELM & Co, merchants / linen drapers @2 Bread Street.
1794 Subscriber to book about colonization of West Coast of Africa – address Old Ford.
1794-95 [Kent / Lowndes] Mackmurdo & Hick(e)s, callico printers / linen drapers @2 Bread Street, Cheapside.
1795 Jun 20 [London Gazette] Partnership of ELM, Hickes, Lane & Theobalds, calico printers of Old Ford, dissolved – now ELM, Hickes & Theobalds only. In July 1799 Theobalds also left by mutual agreement, leaving just ELM & Hickes.

1795 Lyson’s Environs of London – Stratford-le-Bow (incl. Old Ford): “The principal manufacture at this place is that of calico printing, once in a very flourishing state; there is now only one ground of any extent, which belongs to MacMurdo, Lane and Tibbalds.”

So it’s clear that Mackmurdo did not complete a full seven year apprenticeship from 1771 (perhaps that was agreed all along), but during 1777 formed a partnership with two others to set up as Linen Drapers in the City. Though not impossible, it seems unlikely to me that so soon after going into business as one thing, he would disappear off to the Continent for at least some months to learn about another, leaving his partners to try and get their existing joint venture off the ground in a very competitive environment.

If he had on his (theoretical) return immediately embarked with them on his new venture, calico printing, I might have believed it – but he did not. For the next eight years (or ten from when the company was founded) the firm of Greaves, Mackmurdo and Hodgson continued as Linen Drapers at the same address in Cheapside. It was only in (probably) 1787 that he became involved in calico printing at Old Ford (by the River Lea), and the GM&H partnership in London was dissolved – apparently on amicable terms since his former partners set up shop next door. The calico printing then became a main focus (though he also continued as a linen draper himself), and in the next few years he moved from being an unnamed partner in one calico business (while he learned the ropes, perhaps), to taking on different partners to form other ones in which his name was always foremost.

The quote from Lyson’s, too, makes clear that calico printing was (or had been) a long-practised skill at Old Ford, and I imagine there would have been plenty of relevant expertise available. Would Mackmurdo really need to travel five or six hundred miles, by ship and then by land across most of France, in order to learn how to do it? Journeying long distances by road in the 18th century was very, very demanding.

The above contributions from Osmund are invaluable for enabling us to understand Mackmurdo. For my part I am confident that the inscription giving his identity on the reverse of the portrait is original. I also don't believe that the portrait is British and think that it was painted on the continent. We don't have to suppose that Mackmurdo was away for months on a study trip. We don't know why he was away or for how long, whether on business or for pleasure or for family reasons. What we do have is the evidence of the portrait.

Sadly the answer to the discussion question, "Who painted this portrait of Edward Longdon Mackmurdo?" is that we do not know. Hence I recommended (17/06/2024) that this discussion now be closed with only the small adjustment of adding the year painted, 1779.

Osmund's research provides the essential information for understanding Mackmurdo's role in society and industry at the time and will be of enduring value.