'Count' James Dagnia (1708/9-1755)
John Shackleton (fl.1742 – London 1767)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1745 - 1755
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
2015 x 1512 mm
Order this imageCollection
Felbrigg, Norfolk
NT 1401252
Caption
This picture was long identified as Benjamin Stillingfleet (1702-71), who was an impoverished scholar, botanist, tutor, and then friend of William II Windham (1717-61) of Felbrigg. However, eighteenth century inventories have confirmed the sitter’s identity as that of ‘Mr Dagnia’, a mysterious figure, whose relationship with Windham is obscure. He was from a family of glass manufacturers of Italian origin, who had settled at Cleadon, Co. Durham, where his father built Cleadon Hall. He was known as the ‘gentleman painter’, and postured as ‘Count Dagnia’ in Rome, where he was much patronised by English noblemen. He probably struck up his friendship with Windham in Rome.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, 'Count' James Dagnia (1708/9-1755) by John Shackleton (fl.1742 – London 1767), circa 1745/55. Full-length portrait of a man, turned to the right, gazing to the left, seated at a table wearing a white suit with red cloak and shoes. His right arm rests on an open book on a table, other books on floor. Previously believed to be of Benjamin Stillingfleet (1702-1771).
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
John Shackleton (fl.1742 – London 1767), publisher