William Colyear, Viscount Milsington, later 3rd Earl of Portmore (1745-1823)
Allan Ramsay (Edinburgh 1713 - Dover 1784)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1764 - 1765
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
(49 x 39 in) 1245 x 990 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Penrhyn Castle, Gwynedd
NT 1420352
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, William Colyear, Viscount Milsington, later 3rd Earl of Portmore (1745-1823) by Allan Ramsay (Edinburgh 1713 - Dover 1784), circa 1764-5. A three-quarter-length portrait of the only surviving son of the 2nd Earl of Portmore, turned to left, facing, wearing a red velvet suit, white shirt with lace cuffs and collar and a black satin bagwig. Holding in his right hand a black tricorn hat, Colyear leans on a table supporting a stack of books; to his left is a pedestal-mounted marble urn. A red chalk study for the urn, presumably first used by Ramsay for his portrait of Augusta, Princess of Wales, is in the collection of the National Galleries Scotland (acc.no. D.1856); the urn itself appears to be one of a pair which now stand on the East Terrace at Windsor Castle (RCIN 71445). Pentimenti show that the urn was moved further to the right and possibly replaced a column. Another portrait by Ramsay, of George William Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry (1722-1809), at Croome Court, shows the sitter in exactly the same clothes, pose and setting as in the present picture (NT 170909). Lord Milsington was the uncle of George Hay Dawkins-Pennant (1764–1840), of Penrhyn Castle. His sister, Lady Juliana Colyear married Henry Dawkins II (1728–1814) in 1759.
Provenance
Accepted by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the National Trust in 2005 (estate of Lady Janet Marcia Rose Douglas Pennant (d. 1997).
Credit line
Penrhyn Castle, The Douglas Pennant Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Allan Ramsay (Edinburgh 1713 - Dover 1784), artist
References
Steegman 1957 John Steegman, A Survey of Portraits in Welsh Houses, Vol.I: North Wales, Cardiff, 1957, p. 58. Smart and Ingamells 1999 Alastair Smart and John Ingamells (ed.), Allan Ramsay A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, New Haven and London, Yale, 1999, p. 169, no. 422, fig. 560.
