Gerard de Visme (1726 - 1798)
Thomas Hickey (Dublin 1741 – Madras 1824)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1783 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1041 x 895 mm (41 x 35 1/4 in)
Place of origin
Lisbon
Order this imageCollection
Tyntesfield, North Somerset
NT 20939
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Gerard de Visme (1726 - 1798) by Thomas Hickey (Dublin 1741 – Madras 1824), signed and dated, lower right: T. Hickey 1783. A seated three-quarter-length portrait of the Lisbon merchant, in a mauve coat, white waistcoat and stock, holding a book, in a wooded landscape with an ornamental urn. The artist was in Lisbon for a few years on his way to India.
Provenance
Alphonse Trézel; his sale, Galérie Jean Charpentier, Paris, May 17th 1935, lot 47; private collection, France; Thomas Agnew & Son (Agnew's), May 1981, £4,000 (exh no. 55, June 1981), no. 444105 and sold to Richard, 2nd Lord Wraxall; purchased by the National Trust from the estate of the late George Richard Lawley Gibbs, 2nd Baron Wraxall (1928 – 2001) with the assistance of the NHMF, Art Fund and donations from members and supporters in 2002
Credit line
Tyntesfield, The Gibbs Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: signed and dated : 'T. Hickey 1783 (?) (lower right) Verso: On rear (top) WO 1815 in black. Verso: (bottom centre) fine paper label - THOS AGNEW [ampersand] SONS LTD / No 44105 / LONDON, / 43 OLD BOND STREET, / PICCADILLY, WIX 4BA (bottom right) card stapled to base of frame - THOMAS HICKEY (fi. 1756-1816) / Portrait of a Gentleman / Canvas, 50 x 40 inches (127 x 101.5cms) / Signed and dated 1783. / Collections: Vente Alphonse Trezel, Paris, May 17th 1935, lot 47 / Private Collection, France. / Hickey was born in Dublin and educated at the Dublin Society Schools between 1753 and 1756. Early in his career he came into contact with the work of Gainsborough whose influence is still apparent in this much later portrait. After an extended visit to Italy from 1761 to 1767, Hickey came to London to set up a portrait practice and begin exhibiting regularly at the Royal Academy from 1772 onwards. In 1780 he set sail for India but was captured en route by the French and Spanish fleets; he was finally released in Cadiz and William Hickey, the diarist, who was however no relation, describes the events thus, 'having obtained permission from the Spanish Government to return to England, [he] had gone from Cadiz to Lisbon..... but on his reaching Lisbon he had so much employment that he had remained there to very good account, had painted most of the English ladies and gentlemen and was then engaged upon the portraits of several Portuguese of rank.' Our portrait, painted in 1783, dates from the artist's Lisbon period where according to Anne Crookshank (Ann Crookshank and the Knight of Glin, the Painters of Ireland, c. 1660-1920, 1978, p.90), some of the artist's best work was produced. Although the identity of the sitter is not known, it seems likely from his dress and the elegant landscape background, that he was an aristocrat, possibly with literary leaning.
Makers and roles
Thomas Hickey (Dublin 1741 – Madras 1824), publisher