William II Blathwayt (1688-1742) as a Child
Henry Tilson (Yorkshire c.1659 - London 1695)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1691 (signed and dated)
Materials
oil on canvas
Measurements
1245 x 1003 mm (49 x 39 1/2 in)
Order this imageCollection
Dyrham, Gloucestershire
NT 453760
Caption
William II Blathwayt was the eldest son of William I Blathwayt (?1649–1717) and his wife Mary Wynter (1650–1691). Here he is shown around the age of 3, fashionably portrayed as a drummer, wearing classical, or ‘all’antica’ costume. Henry Tilson was a pupil of Sir Peter Lely (1618–1680) and travelled to Italy in 1685 with Michael Dahl (1659–1743), who painted the portraits at Dyrham of William I Blathwayt and Mary Wynter.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, William II Blathwayt (1688-1742) as a Child by Henry Tilson (Yorkshire c.1659 - London 1695), signed and dated H. Tilson 1691. A full-length portrait of a boy in all'antica dress, wearing a blue tunic and red cloak, with a sword at his waist and a spear held in his left hand. He appears to be moving to the right, across a chequered floor, with a curtain pulled up to the top left and a landscape visible to the right, beyond a stone balustrade. He looks out towards the viewer and gestures with his right hand towards a drum on the floor at the left.
Provenance
Presumably painted for William I Blathwayt (?1649-1717); thence by descent; Indigenous collection purchased by the Ministry of Works in 1956 and given to Dyrham Park in 1961
Credit line
Dyrham Park, The Blathwayt Collection (acquired by the Ministry of Works via the National Land Fund in 1956, and transferred to the National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Bottom left, on a dark tile: H. TILSON / 1691
Makers and roles
Henry Tilson (Yorkshire c.1659 - London 1695), artist