Mr and Mrs Van Harthals and their Son
Arthur Devis (Preston 1712 - London 1787)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1749 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
583 x 1192 mm (34 3/4 x 48 4/6 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Upton House, Warwickshire
NT 446667
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Mr and Mrs Van Harthals and their Son, by Arthur Devis (1711-1787), signed and dated bottom left: Art. Devis. fe. 1749. A conversation piece depicting the Van Harthals family in a landscape. Mr Evert van Harthals (died c. 1754) at right leaning against a tree-trunk, wearing a brown coat and holding his hat in his hand. His wife, Joanna Magdalena van Harthals, nee Bolwark (died 1799), wearing a white satin dress with a blue hat on her knees, is seated next to telescope on a tripod stand; their son Edward van Harthals (died 1814) stands between them, wearing a green coat and breeches and pink waistcoat, leaning on a stick, his hat at his feet. Beyond, a distant view of a winding river leading to the sea, with a church and buildings on a spit of land. Edward van Harthals is described as a 'Merchant of Holborn' in his will of 1814. His mother Joanna Magdalena van Harthals married secondly Edward Montagu, Master in Chancery (1717-1798). The painting purchased on behalf of Lord Bearsted at the sale of Caroline Edwina Montagu (1928).
Provenance
Sale of Caroline Edwina Montagu, Christie's, 29 June 1928, lot 55: bought by Martin for Lord Bearsted for £735; given with Upton House to the National Trust by Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted (1882–1948), in 1948, shortly before his death.
Credit line
Upton House, The Bearsted Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Arthur Devis (Preston 1712 - London 1787) , artist
Exhibition history
Landscape and Imagination: From Gardens to Land Art, Compton Verney, Warwickshire, 2024
References
Whitley 1930 W.T. Whitley,'Conversation Pieces of the 18th Century', The Collector, IX, 1930, pp.113, repd. 115