Called Joshua Edisbury (d.1718) or James Hutton (d. 1770) but really Governor James Hamilton (c.1710 - 1783) (after Benjamin West)
British (English) School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1750 - circa 1760
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
422 x 311 mm (16 5/8 x 12 1/4 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Erddig, Wrexham
NT 1151299
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Called Joshua Edisbury (d.1718) or James Hutton (d. 1770) but really Governor James Hamilton (c.1710 - 1783) (after Benjamin West). A head -and-shoulders portrait, cut from a larger picture, originally a three-quarter length, see red curtain behind. Style of wig and dress belongs to circa 1750/60, when Edisbury was long dead; possibly a portrait of James Hutton. The head is a copy of a full-length portrait of James Hamilton (c.1710 - 1783), Mayor of Philadelphia (1745) and twice Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania (1748-54; 1759-63) by Benjamin West, in the Independence Hall, Phildelphia, Pennsylvania.
Provenance
Given by Philip Yorke III (1905 – 1978) along with the estate, house and contents to the National Trust in 1973
Makers and roles
British (English) School, artist after Benjamin West (Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 1738 - London 1820), artist
References
Waterson, 1980: Merlin Waterson, The Servants' Hall. A Domestic History of Erddig, Routledge & Kegan 1980, fig.18 (p.23 - as of Joshua Edisbury Erddig, Clwyd: 1995 [The National Trust] 1995, p.46 "DINING ROOM PICTURES BRITISH, mid-eighteenth century Supposed portrait of Joahua Edisbury He commissioned Thomas Webb to built Erddig in 1683, but the expense ruined him and he was forced to flee to London to avoid he creditors before the house was completed. However, the style of the dress and wig belongs to the 1750s, when Edisbury was long dead. Just possibly a portrait of James Hutton, cut down from a larger picture."