Mr Halliwell on Horseback
Charles Towne (Wigan 1763 – Liverpool 1840)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1794 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
980 x 1205 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Treasurer's House, North Yorkshire
NT 593146
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Mr Halliwell on Horseback by Charles Towne (Wigan 1763 – Liverpool 1840), signed and dated 'Chas Town Pinxt 1794'. A full-length equestrian portrait, on a bay cob, riding to the left. He is wearing a blue coat with red collar. A town in the distance, left.
Full description
The 1930 inventory lists "Portrait of gentleman on Horseback - James Halliwell". It is thought that this is James Halliwell (1744-1807) of Broomfield, Cheetham Hill, Manchester whose neice married into the Lycett family, from which the donor's mother was descended. Halliwell worked for the calico business of Robert Peel, becoming a partner by 1785, and was an active member of the Manchester branch of the Loyalist Association for Constitutional Order (founded 1792). The river in the background is likely to be the Irwell. See NT 593147 for a portrait of Halliwell's widow, Elizabeth. The sky, which is pale mauve to white, has some resemblance to paintings by Stubbs in which the artist has used enamel colours and which have probably suffered under restoration. This technique, which is fluid and somewhat watercolour in its effect, has not always resisted the attentions of restorers. It is possible that Towne, who is here emulating a Stubbs type of composition, may also have adopted a similar technique.
Provenance
Dining Room 1909 -date; gift of Francis 'Frank' William Green FSA (1861-1954) in 1930
Credit line
Treasurer’s House, York, The Frank Green Gift (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Chas Town Pinxt 1794(signed and dated)
Makers and roles
Charles Towne (Wigan 1763 – Liverpool 1840), publisher