William II Blathwayt (1688-1742)
Edward Gouge (d. c.1735)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1707
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
730 x 622 mm (28 3/4 x 24 1/2 in)
Order this imageCollection
Dyrham, Gloucestershire
NT 453745
Caption
This portrait of William II Blathwayt was painted in Rome in 1707 by the little-known English artist Edward Gouge (almost certainly the son of the celebrated plasterer of the same name). William was the eldest son of William I Blathwayt (?1649–1717), the man responsible for transforming Dyrham Park and forming the collection of paintings, and his wife Mary Wynter (1650–1691). When he was 16 years old, he and his younger brother John (1690–1754) set out on a tour of Europe with their tutor, M. de Blainville. They travelled through Holland, Germany and Switzerland on their way to Italy, where they spent over a year. While in Rome, William II Blathwayt took lessons in architecture from an English architect, probably James Gibbs (1682–1754). Together with the portrait of his brother John, painted by Gouge at the same time, this is one of the earliest ‘Grand Tour’ portraits of an English sitter.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, William II Blathwayt (1688-1742) by Edward Gouge (fl.1690 - d.1735), 1707. A half-length portrait of a young man, turned to the right, facing the viewer, wearing a dark brown coat, white stock, and long wig.
Provenance
Painted in Rome in 1707 for the sitter's father; thence by inheritance and descent at Dyrham Park; Indigenous purchased by the Ministry of Works in 1956 and given to Dyrham Park in 1961
Credit line
Purchased by the Ministry of Works through the National Land Fund and transferred to the National Trust for Dyrham Park in 1956
Makers and roles
Edward Gouge (d. c.1735), artist