Richard Myddelton MP (1726-1795)
Francis Cotes (London 1726 - London 1770)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1762
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1454 x 1198 x 75 mm
Place of origin
England
Collection
Chirk Castle, Wrexham
NT 1171184
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Richard Myddelton MP (1726-1795) by Francis Cotes, RA (London 1726 – London 1770), circa 1762. A potrait of Richard Myddelton as a young man, three-quarter length, facing, head slightly inclined to the left, gazing at spectator, powdered wig, curled in two rows above the ears, wearing an open red jacket with deep cuffs and buttoned-up long waistcoat, both of which are heavily embroidered in gold, his right hand is thrust into his waistcoat pocket, and he holds a black hat under his left arm, which he rests on the back of a green chair; his left hand is open, in a gesture that one might make in conversation; a green curtain with a large gilt tassel in the left background. Richard Myddelton married Elizabeth Rushout in 1761, the first of his three wives, and was probably not long afterwards that they sat to Cotes, one of the most fashionable painters in London. He was just entering his heyday. In this supremely elegant portrait, Cotes produced what the late Ramsay scholar, Alistair Smart, called; 'Surely one of the supreme achievements in English portraiture of the period'.
Provenance
By descent, until acquired in 1994 by the National Museum of Wales, with the aid of a special grant from the Secretary of State for Wales, for indefinite loan to Chirk Castle, since 1994. Ar fenthyg gan / Lent by Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales to Chirk Castle.
Credit line
Chirk Castle, The Myddelton Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Francis Cotes (London 1726 - London 1770), artist