William Frederick 'Mad' Windham (1840-1866) as a Boy
British (English) School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1850
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1250 x 1000 mm
Order this imageCollection
Felbrigg, Norfolk
NT 1401229
Caption
The sitter was the penultimate Windham of Felbrigg. He inherited an estate which was heavily in debt from his father, and a rogue Hervey gene from his mother (the family was notoriously eccentric). His mother left him to his own devices when she became infatuated with the son of an Italian opera singer half her age, and with whom she absconded to Torquay. In spite of his family’s best attempts, ‘Mad Windham’ avoided being declared a lunatic. Ultimately he was forced to sell Felbrigg and ended up as an ‘Express’ coach-driver. The estate was bought by John Ketton in 1863, which prompted one wit to observe that ‘Windham is gone to the dogs. Felbrigg has gone to the Kittens’ [Ketton had changed his name from Kitton in 1853].
Summary
An oil painting on canvas of William Frederick 'Mad' Windham (1840-1866) as a boy, by the British (English) School. It is a full-length portrait of a young boy dressed in a blue coat who is holding a sword in his right hand, while his left hand embraces a black spaniel on a sofa. Behind him is a column and a red curtain, beyond which is a landscape. There are toys on the floor. He was the penultimate Windham of Felbrigg, who inherited a heavily encumbered estate from his father and a rogue Hervey gene from his mother. When the bank foreclosed, Felbrigg was bought by John Ketton and 'Mad' Windham ended up as an 'Express' coach-driver.
Provenance
Part of the Windham Collection. The hall and contents were bequeathed to the National Trust in 1969 by Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer (1906-1969)
Makers and roles
British (English) School, artist