Edward Barnes (1761/2 - ?), Woodman, aged 68
William Jones of Chester (fl.1818 - 1853/1858)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1830
Materials
Oil on canvas on a wood frame
Measurements
1143 x 914 mm (45 x 36 in)
Order this imageCollection
Erddig, Wrexham
NT 1151281
Caption
Individual portraits of servants are not uncommon, but the sets at Erddig, which established a tradition later carried on in the form of photographs, may be unique. The first set of portraits was painted in the 1790s for Philip I Yorke, who wrote and published verses known as 'Crude-Ditties' to accompany them. The tradition was continued by Philip's son Simon II Yorke, who commissioned the present picture.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Edward Barnes (1761/2 - ?), Woodman, by William Jones of Chester (fl. 1818 - 1853/58), 1830, inscribed with verse by Simon Yorke II (1771 - 1834) contained within a series of cartouches at the bottom of the portrait, the central cartouche inscribed 'Edward Barnes / Woodman / Aged 68 / 1830'. A full-length portrait of Edward Barnes, Woodman on the Erddig estate, depicted at the age of sixty-eight. Barnes stands before a cottage amongst trees, wearing a top hat, carrying in one hand a sword of the Denbighshire Militia and in the other an axe. Barnes is depicted again in the background, fishing. A woman in a red dress and bonnet stands in the doorway of the cottage.
Provenance
Commissioned by Simon Yorke II (1771- 1834) in 1830; thence by descent; given by Philip Yorke III (1905 – 1978) along with the estate, house and contents to the National Trust in 1973.
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: Edward Barnes / Woodman / Aged 68 / 1830, flanked by 24 lines of verse
Makers and roles
William Jones of Chester (fl.1818 - 1853/1858), artist previously catalogued as by British (English) School, artist
Exhibition history
In Trust for the Nation, National Gallery, London, 1995 - 1996, no.25b
References
Steegman 1957 John Steegman, A Survey of Portraits in Welsh Houses, Vol.I: North Wales, Cardiff, 1957, pp.97-98 Waterson, 1980: Merlin Waterson, The Servants' Hall. A Domestic History of Erddig, Routledge & Kegan 1980, pp. 142-43 & fig. 86. Erddig, Clwyd: 1995 [The National Trust] 1995, p.41.
