Thomas Pritchard (1762/3 - ?), Gardener, aged 67
William Jones of Chester (fl.1818 - 1853/1858)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1830 (dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas on a wood frame
Measurements
1143 x 914 mm (45 x 36 in)
Order this imageCollection
Erddig, Wrexham
NT 1151288
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, Thomas Pritchard (1762/3 - ?), Gardener, 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 'Thomas Pritchard/Gardener/Aged 67 1830'. A full-length portrait of Thomas Pritchard, Gardener on the Erddig estate, depicted at the age of sixty-seven. Pritchard is seated outside the Garden House at Erddig, with a calico cat at his feet and beside it his upturned top hat.
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.
Credit line
Erddig, The Yorke Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: Thomas Pritchard/Gardener/Aged 67 1830, flanked by 24 lines of verse.
Makers and roles
William Jones of Chester (fl.1818 - 1853/1858), artist British (English) School, artist
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 Erddig, Clwyd: 1995 [The National Trust] 1995, pp. 41-2, illus p.83.
