The many faces of Golden Age British portraiture from Wood Hall in Essex
16 July 2020 Golden Age British portraiture from the Georgian period was once among the costliest of collecting genres. However, today these finely painted oils immortalising the great and the good of 18th century society, will typically represent very good value for money.
Portrait of Mrs James Hoste, nee Hamond (1710-59), Circle of John Vanderbank the Younger (1694-1739) - £3000-5000 at Sworders.
With many decent British 17th, 18th and early 19th century portraits available at auction from £500-5000, it is possible to make a grand interior statement while keeping to a budget.
Sworders of Stansted Mountfitchet is selling the part-contents of the Essex manor house Wood Hall during its Fine Interiors sale on July 21-22. The consignment includes some 30 typical portraits – many of them acquired to decorate the property over the past 40 years. All are pitched below £5000 with many estimated at three-figure sums. Online bidding is available via thesaleroom.com.
Wood Hall is located about half a mile from the village of Arkesden in the north of Essex, close to the Hertfordshire and Cambridge borders. The present house was rebuilt in the late 19th century – and much of the surrounding land sold in 1926 – but there has been a manor here since the 14th century. For over 200 years, from the early Tudor to the early Georgian period, it was the family seat of the Cutts dynasty.
The most recent owners of the property chose to refurnish in the timeless English country house style with historic portraits in giltwood frames providing the complementary wall hangings. Judging by provenances listed in the catalogue, most were bought at auctions held in and around the surrounding area since the 1980s.
With the odd exception, a distinct commercial hierarchy applies to ‘Old Master’ and traditional portraiture. As a general rule of thumb, attractive young ladies are more desirable than mature matriarchs. Dashing gents in dress uniforms are an easier sell than worthy Victorian clerics and bewigged JPs.
Military subjects from Wood Hall include a portrait of John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722) dressed in armour and ermine from the studio of Godfrey Kneller (estimate £2000-3000) to a half-length rendering of Captain Charles Kerr of Buchtrigg and Calderbank (1753-1813) wearing the uniform of the Royal Edinburgh Volunteers by Scottish artist David Martin (estimate £1500-2500).
Among the most arresting subjects is a three-quarter length oil of Mrs James Hoste (1710-59) dressed in a blue dress and gold cloak. The granddaughter of Robert Walpole and sister to Robert, 1st Earl of Oxford, she married Major James Hoste of Sandringham. Painted c.1735 by an artist from the Circle of John Vanderbank the Younger (1694-1739), her portrait was in the family of the sitter at West Acre High House, Norfolk until it was last sold in 2010. The estimate is £3000-5000.
Portrait of a Victorian gentleman, English School, late 19th century - £200-300 at Sworders.
