18th Century Oil Painting British Countess of Guilford Lady Lucy North Née Montagu – Circle of John Vanderbank

Details

Description

Early Georgian Lady Lucy Montagu Portrait, Circle of John Vanderbank, c.1730–1740

An Intimate British Aristocratic Portrait With Dreweatts Provenance and … Read more Early Georgian Lady Lucy Montagu Portrait, Circle of John Vanderbank, c.1730–1740

An Intimate British Aristocratic Portrait With Dreweatts Provenance and Important Guilford Family Comparative History

Highlights

Early 18th-century British aristocratic portrait, circa 1730–1740.
Catalogued and sold by Dreweatts as **Circle of John Vanderbank (1694–1739*.
Traditionally identified as Lady Lucy North, Lady Guilford, née Montagu.
Mother of Frederick North, Lord North, later Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Oil on canvas, oval.
Painting approximately 34 × 29 cm.
Documented Dreweatts provenance, 18 October 2023, Lot 87.
Important larger comparative portrait sold at Christie’s in 2008 with provenance from the Earls of Guilford.
John Vanderbank painted Lucy’s husband Francis North in 1736.
Privately loaned and exhibited at the Famous Lord Hill Museum, Shropshire.
Presented in an associated decorative gilt frame.
Relined with extensive age-related craquelure.

Description

A refined early Georgian British portrait traditionally identified as Lady Lucy North, Lady Guilford, née Montagu, and catalogued by Dreweatts as **Circle of John Vanderbank (1694–1739)

The young aristocratic sitter is portrayed bust-length within an intimate oval. Her pale complexion and blue-grey eyes contrast beautifully with a fashionable black gown embellished with crimson and white ornament.

Pearls, ribbons and a dramatic white feathered headdress complete the composition, while the restrained brown-golden background places the emphasis firmly upon the sitter.

The portrait is presented within an associated rectangular gilt frame incorporating an oval spandrel and decorative moulded borders, creating an elegant presentation particularly suited to traditional, Georgian, English country house and layered contemporary interiors.

The Sitter

Lucy Montagu was a daughter of George Montagu, Earl of Halifax.

She married Francis North in 1728. Francis succeeded as 3rd Baron Guilford the following year.

Their son, Frederick North, Lord North, subsequently became Prime Minister of Great Britain, serving from 1770 until 1782 and leading the British government through much of the American War of Independence.

Lucy died in 1734.

Although Dreweatts historically catalogued the sitter as “Countess of Guildford”, Francis North was not created Earl of Guilford until 1752, after Lucy’s death. The present catalogue therefore refers to her more accurately during her lifetime as Lady Guilford while preserving Dreweatts’ original wording within the auction provenance.

The Vanderbank Connection

John Vanderbank was a prominent portrait painter of early Georgian Britain.

Particularly relevant to the present attribution is Vanderbank’s documented relationship with Lucy’s immediate family.

In 1736 Vanderbank painted Francis North, Lucy’s widower. The signed and dated portrait survives in the National Trust collection.

This establishes direct North-family patronage of Vanderbank within only a few years of Lucy’s death and provides important historical context for Dreweatts’ Circle of Vanderbank attribution.

The Christie’s Guilford Portrait

An important comparative portrait traditionally identified as Lucy Montagu was sold at Christie’s London, Old Master & British Pictures, 11 July 2008, Lot 56.

Like the present painting, the substantially larger three-quarter-length portrait was catalogued as Circle of John Vanderbank.

Most significantly, Christie’s recorded that painting as having descended through the Earls of Guilford.

The portrait measured approximately 125.7 × 101.5 cm and realised £8,125.

Christie’s also recorded an unattributed oval portrait in a private collection apparently based upon the larger composition.

This provides valuable evidence for an established Lucy Montagu portrait tradition that included an oval version. There is presently insufficient documentary evidence, however, to establish that the private-collection oval mentioned by Christie’s is the present painting.

The Earls of Guilford provenance belongs solely to the larger Christie’s comparative portrait and is not represented as provenance for the present work.

Catalogue Details

Attribution: Circle of John Vanderbank (1694–1739)

Sitter: Traditionally identified as Lady Lucy North, Lady Guilford, née Montagu

Date: Circa 1730–1740

Origin: Britain

Medium: Oil on canvas

Format: Oval

Painting: Approximately 34 × 29 cm

Framed: Approximately 43.5 × 39 × 4 cm

Provenance

Private collection.

Dreweatts, *Old Master, British and European Art*, 18 October 2023, Auction 14591, Lot 87, catalogued as *Circle of John Vanderbank (British 1694–1739), Lady Lucy Montagu, Countess of Guildford (1709–1734)*.

Acquired at the above sale.

Privately loaned & exhibited at the Famous Lord Hill Museum, Shropshire.

Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD® collection.

Original Dreweatts transaction documentation is retained within the artwork’s provenance archive.


Certificate of Sale & Dealer Attribution

The artwork will be supplied with a Certificate of Sale & Dealer Attribution issued by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®, recording the artwork’s catalogue details, attribution, provenance as stated, and details of the sale. This document accompanies the work as part of its ongoing ownership and provenance record.


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