Saints Anthony Abbot and Paul of Thebes in a rocky landscape
Lady Anne Margaret Coke, Viscountess Anson (Holkham 1779 - London 1843)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1793
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
650 x 1000 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Shugborough Estate, Staffordshire
NT 1271111
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Saints Anthony Abbot and Paul of Thebes in a rocky landscape, by Anne Margaret Coke, Viscountess Anson (Holkham Hall 1778 – London 1843) after David Teniers the Younger (Antwerp 1610 - Brussells 1690), 1793. St Anthony Abbot, in black robes and holding a book, is seated upon a rock with Paul of Thebes, who appears in brown robes and points up to the raven which brings him his daily bread. The Hermit Saints sit before a rock upon which a crucifix, a skull, an hourglass and a glass bottle rest. Three books, one of which is open, are leaned against the rock. Lady Anson has signed and dated the slab of stone next to the books. Within a rocky landscape, a church upon a hill, a waterfall and a shepherd with his flock beyond. The painting is described in Clifford's A topographical and historical description of the parish of Tixall in the county of Stafford (1817), p. 66 '[...] the wonder of this [i.e. Shugborough's] collection are the paintings of the present Lady Anson; of whose pencil there are not less than five finished productions displayed in these apartments. One is a copy from Teniers; the subject Anthony visiting Paul in the Desert; and executed before her ladyship had attained the fifteenth year of her age. Another, is a group, representing her three eldest children, taken from life [NT 1271042],; a third is a large Landscape; Cattle in a storm, from Loutherbourg. [NT 1271054]' The original painting by David Teniers was acquired by Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston (1739-1802), of Broadlands, Hampshire, in Brussels, in 1760. It was exhibited Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor schonen Kunsten, David Teniers the Younger. Paintings. Drawings, 11 May-1 September 1991, no. 75) and offered at Christie's, London, 9 July 2014, lot. 155.
Provenance
Transferred to the National Trust with Shugborough’s park and contents of the state rooms, in part-payment of death-duties to the Treasury, following the death of Thomas, 4th Earl of Lichfield (1883 - 1960)
Marks and inscriptions
1793 (signed and dated)
Makers and roles
Lady Anne Margaret Coke, Viscountess Anson (Holkham 1779 - London 1843), artist after David Teniers the younger (Antwerp 1610 - Brussels 1690), artist