(a) Frances Crewe (b. 1791) as a Child (b) Sir Henry Crewe, 7th Bt (1763-1819)
attributed to Anne Mee (London c.1760 – Hammersmith 1851)
Category
Art / Miniatures
Date
Unknown
Materials
Order this imageCollection
Calke Abbey, Derbyshire
NT 290315
Summary
Two oval portrait miniatures, mounted in an oval gold frame incorporating a plaited ring of hair, portraits attributed to Anne Mee (c.1760-1851). On one side, a half-length portrait of a Frances Crewe (b.1791) as young child with long fair hair. She wears a white dress with a blue waistband, a blue cloudy sky behind. On the other side, a half-length portrait of her father, Sir Henry Crewe, 7th Bt. (1763-1819) wearing a brown jacket. He has powdered grey hair, a white cravat and is shown against a dark grey background. Oval red gold frame with convex glass each side and a hanging loop on the top allowing it to be worn as a pendant. The portrait of Frances was formerly described as a portrait of Sir George Crewe, 8th Bt. (1795-1844) as a Child.
Full description
The pendant was bequeathed by Nanny, Lady Crewe (1765/6-1827) as ‘the miniature portrait of my most tenderly beloved husband Sir Henry Crewe Baronet encircled with a plaiting of his hair and set in gold on the back of which is the miniature portrait of my oldest daughter when a child’. Lady Crewe bequeathed it to her unmarried daughters and then, in the event of all daughters marrying or the death of her last unmarried daughter, to the owner of Calke Abbey to be ‘considered as an heir loom apportioned to the ffamily Mansion’ (National Archives, PROB/11/1699/16). It was recorded in the 1886 inventory of the family jewel case as a ‘miniature of Sir Henry Harpur Crewe & Frances Elizabeth his oldest daughter by Mrs Mee’ (Derbyshire Record Office, D2375/H/F/2/27).
Provenance
Portrait miniatures of Sir Henry Crewe, 7th Bt. (1763-1819) and Frances Crewe (b. 1791) attributed to Anne Mee (c.1760-1851). Bequeathed by Nanny, Lady Crewe (1765/6-1827) to her unmarried daughters and then as an heirloom to the owner of Calke Abbey. Recorded in the 1886 inventory of the family jewel case. Thence by descent to Henry Harpur-Crewe (1921-91) and transferred with Calke Abbey and its contents to the National Trust by the Treasury in lieu of Capital Transfer Tax in 1985 with an endowment provided by the National Heritage Memorial Fund.
Makers and roles
attributed to Anne Mee (London c.1760 – Hammersmith 1851), artist British (English) School, artist