William Wynch (1750-1819)
Tilly Kettle (1735 - Aleppo 1786)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1774 (at time of marriage) - 1775
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
760 x 635 mm (30 x 25 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Clevedon Court, North Somerset
NT 624182
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, William Wynch (1750-1819) by Tilly Kettle (1735-1786), 1774-75. A portrait of a young man, facing, gazing at spectator, short brown natural hair, wearing a cream linen coat with blue lining, gilt buttons and gold frogging and a blue waistcoat with gilt buttons and gold frogging. Simple white stock. Possibly in the Madras Civil Service or the East India Company Service. Eldest son of Alexander Wynch, Governor of Madras, 1773/5 (1721-1776) and Sophia Croke (c.1729-1754). In 1774/5 married Rhoda Crocket (1754-1847), daughter of John Crocket, they were the parents of Flora Wynch, Mrs James Legge Willis (1776-1842) whose daughter Rhoda Susan Willis (1809-1873) married as her second husband and his first wife Sir Arthur Hallam Elton 7th Bt MP (1818-1883). This portrait could actually have been painted earlier in 1768/70 when Tilly Kettle was in Madras.
Provenance
Bequest of Colonel Richard ffolliot Willis, 1956 formerly lent to Lydiard Tregoze, Swindon; transferred to Clevedon Court in 1984
Credit line
Bequest of Col. Richard Ffolliot Willis, 1956 formerly lent to Lydiard Tregoze, Swindon; transferred to Clevedon Court
Marks and inscriptions
Verso: top strectcher: D 61; inpencil below the date of Zoffany ( 1735 - 1810), cahlk mark: 'A', central cross bar: '34' on top edge of frame: 'Property of W A Willis, on canvas: Portrait of Willima Wynch Esq Mrs Willis's Father
Makers and roles
Tilly Kettle (1735 - Aleppo 1786), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Johann Zoffany, RA (Frankfurt am Main 1733 - Kew 1810), artist
References
Waterhouse 1980: Ellis K. Waterhouse, 'The Willis Family Portraits at Lydiard Park' National Trust Studies, 1980, pp.49-53, p.52. Illus. Caption to illustration: 6. William Wynch (1750-1819) by Tilly Kttle, canvas 76.2 x 63.5 cm. pp.52-53: "Of her [Flora Wynch, Mrs James Willis (1776-1842)] father, Willilam Wynch (1750-1819), of whom no information is forthcoming beyond his dates, there is an excellent portrait formerly called a Zoffany, but an altogether characteristic work of Tilly Kettle (Fig.6). One would guess that it was painted in India about 1774-75. James Willis's elder brother, Richard Legge Willis, was in the Madras Civil Service, and one of his sons was in the Madras Artillery - so that an Indian origin for the Wynch family is not unlikely."