Attributed to John Lewis (fl 1745-60) Portrait of William ...

Hammer

€6,000

Attributed to John Lewis (fl 1745-60)

Portrait of William St. Lawrence, son of William, 14th Baron Howth c 1640, approx. 48" x 36" (122cms x 92cms), in later painted and parcel gilt frame. (1)

Note:
Dressed as befits a young Anglo-Irish gentleman, in crimson suit, lace collar, and blue velvet coat with gold trimmings, William St. Lawrence stands beside a table, assuming an elegant pose and paying little heed to the spaniel that dances at his feet. Behind a heavy curtain, a landscape can be glimpsed. There are several books on the table, which is also draped in red cloth, the folds of which contrast with the black and white tiled floor. The portrait is remarkable in that while the artist has portrayed William as a young adult, in fact he was around ten years old—the table top is at the same level as the boy’s shoulder.

Born sometime around 1732, William was given the same name as his father, William St. Lawrence, 14th Baron Howth. Although William’s mother, Lucy Gorges, was twenty years younger than her husband, they were happily married and had three children; a daughter named Mary, and two sons, Thomas (who became 1st Earl of Howth), and William, the sitter in this portrait. The St. Lawrences were friends of Jonathan Swift, who was a frequent visitor to Howth Castle and also to Kilfane, their country house in Co. Kilkenny, where William Snr indulged his passion for horses and hunting. In his poem On Rover, A Lady’s Spaniel, written a decade or so earlier, Swift had described the physical features of a toy spaniel and given advice to aspiring artists:


Happiest of the spaniel race,
Painter, with thy colours grace:
Draw his forehead large and high,
Draw his blue and humid eye;
Draw his neck so smooth and round,
Little neck with ribbons bound!
And the muscly swelling breast,
Where the Loves and Graces rest;
And the spreading even back,
Soft, and sleek, and glossy black;
And the tail that gently twines,
Like the tendrils of the vines;
And the silky twisted hair,
Shadowing thick the velvet ear;
Velvet ears, which, hanging low,
O'er the veiny temples flow.

Swift’s poem is a parody of namby pamby verses written by Ambrose Phillips, in honour of Georgiana Cartaret, daughter of the Lord Lieutenant. An admirer of Swift’s, Lord Cartaret no doubt secretly delighted in the Dean’s parody. The attribution of this painting to the Dublin artist John Lewis, in Toby Bernard’s "Making the Grand Figure: Lives and Possessions in Ireland 1641-1770", is convincing. Although not well-known as a portrait painter, Lewis was at the centre of Dublin’s theatre and cultural life in the mid eighteenth century, when he worked as a scene painter at the Smock Alley Theatre. He painted portraits of actor Peg Woffington, and dramatist Henry Brooke. While on a visit to Quilca House in Co. Cavan with Thomas Sheridan, he painted mural decorations, with images of Milton, Shakespeare and Jonathan Swift. He may have painted the portrait of William St. Lawrence after the boy’s untimely death. Although destined for a life as a professional soldier, and appointed an ensign in the army while still just fourteen years old, William’s military career was shortlived. While still a teenager, in April 1749, he died of smallpox.
Dr. Peter Murray 2021