Charles Bedingfeld (1803-1870) in the Uniform of the 16th Austrian Cuirassiers
Austrian School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1833
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
749 x 622 mm (29 ½ x 24 ½ in)
Order this imageCollection
Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk
NT 1210276
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Charles Bedingfeld (1803-1870) in the Uniform of the 16th Austrian Cuirassiers by Austrian School, inscribed on a label formerly on the back of lining canvas, and now stuck to frame and stretcher: Charles R. Bedingfeld 3d. [son] / of Sir Richard Bedingfeld [Bt.] / the Honble. Charlotte Jerningham[‘s] / wife. he was an Officer [in] / the Austrian service. / [P]inx: Vienna 1833 / for Oxburgh, 1833. A half-length portrait, turned slightly to the left, head sharply inclined to the right, so face in 7/8 right profile, wearing breastplate and scarlet uniform of the 16th Austrian Cuirassiers. Subject rests his gloved left hand on his sword hilt and his right hand on his belt. A cloak, with red collar, is flung over the shoulders. His hair is short and his moustache and side-whiskers are neat. See also his armour M/35-38 displayed in house below portrait. He was the second son of Sir Richard Bedingfeld, 5th Bt and Charlotte Jerningham. He was 18 in 1821 (Jerningham Letters, ii, p.191). His commissioning into Grand Duke Constantine’s Cuirassiers in 1821 and the strings pulled on his behalf by William IV are described in The Jerningham Letters (ii, pp.191-93, 389-92), which also illustrates a three-quarter-length miniature of him in uniform (pl.VII, facing ii, p.224). His uncle, William Jerningham (1772-1820), had also been in the Austrian service: a miniature of him in uniform illustrated op.cit., facing i, p.100. Charles was later to marry a Miss Waterton, sister of Matilda Waterton, who in 1829 had married his cousin Edmund Jerningham.
Provenance
Commissioned by the sitter in Vienna and sent back to his mother, Charlotte Jerningham, Lady Bedingfeld (d. 1854), and thence by descent; given to the National Trust by Sybil Lyne-Stephens, Lady Paston-Bedingfeld (1883 – 1985), 1961
Makers and roles
Austrian School, artist