George Harry Grey, Lord Grey of Groby, later 5th Earl of Stamford (1737-1819)
Francis Cotes (London 1726 - London 1770)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1759 - 1760
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
902 x 699 mm (35 1/2 x 27 1/2 in)
Order this imageCollection
Dunham Massey, Cheshire
NT 932393
Caption
The sitter has been painted in academic dress. He matriculated at Cambridge as fellow-commoner of Queen’s College in 1755, and proceeded MA in 1758. He gave a copy of this portrait to his college, and - with his two brothers - portraits of Elizabeth Woodville (their ancestress and the college’s co-foundress. This portrait was presumably painted before he left for Italy in 1760 on the Grand Tour.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, George Harry Grey, Lord Grey of Groby later 5th Earl of Stamford (1737-1819) by Francis Cotes, RA (London 1726 – London 1770), 1759/60. A half-length portrait of a young man, seated, turned to the left, gazing at the spectator, in a brown coat and academic gown, supporting a book on his knee with his left hand. Dark natural curly hair tied at the back with a ribbon. In academic dress, presumably painted before he left for Italy in 1760 on the Grand Tour.
Provenance
By family descent to Sir John Foley Grey at Enville Hall; with Colnaghi, then Knoedler, 1928; again with Colnaghi, 1937; anon. Sale, Sotheby's, 22 November 1985, lot 50; bought by the National Trust
Makers and roles
Francis Cotes (London 1726 - London 1770), artist
References
Johnson 1976: Edward Mead Johnson, Francis Cotes, 1976, p. 79