15th Mar, 2025 9:30 GMT/BST
British, European & Sporting Art
1049
Margaret Lindsay Williams (1888-1960)
Portrait of Oliver Henry Jones, of Fonmon Castle, JP., EL (1846-1917), three-quarter-length, standing, wearing hunting pink
Signed and dated 1918, with family crest, oil on canvas, 139.5cm by 101cm
Provenance: The Property of Sir Brooke Boothby ex Fonmon Castle
Sold for £2,200
Estimated at £700 - £1,000
Unlined, all keys present, a little lacking in tension, which has casued draws/undulations at the corners, particularly at the bottom. Low-level stretcher bar marks. A very slight dent to the left of the neck - no loss of paint visible. Brittle age craquelure in passages, much stable not elevated but there are raised cracks in the thicker paint of the red drapery, and a patch with a history of flaking to the shadow of the armpit at the left. This has raised 'crispy' paint and has at least two campaigns of retouching to losses. There are scattered fairly minor restored losses, including one to the right knee, one to the right of the left knee (these two have a yellow ring around them), one in the background to the mid right and one to the lower portion of the red jacket. There is further brushy overpaint around the edges, and around and through the coat-of-arms which is a little more crudely painted with a few drying cracks. There has been a campaign of tiny, careful dots of retouching to suppress marks etc (see uv images), particularly in face and drapery.
A little dirt and ingrained varnish, an even, fairly matt upper varnish perhaps a little yellowed. Layer of surface dirt and accretions including flyspotting and a few splashes. Scattered fairly minor scuffs/scratches to the varnish.
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Auction: British, European & Sporting Art, 15th Mar, 2025
An early sketch by the master landscape painter John Constable (1776-1837), not previously recorded in literature on the artist, will be on offer in the sale. The sketch has emerged from a private family collection in North Yorkshire and will be sold with an estimate of £150,000-200,000 (plus buyer’s premium).
The sale will also include paintings with provenance from the Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire of Charlton Park, a Private Collection from Victoria Lodge, Tweedsmuir, Biggar and the Property of Sir Brooke Boothby, removed from Fonmon Castle, Glamorgan. Originally built by the St John family c. 1180, Fonmon Castle was sold to Colonel Philip Jones, Oliver Cromwell’s Comptroller of Household during the Civil War. Jones enlarged the castle, and later his descendant, Robert Jones III, converted it into a Georgian mansion with Rococo interiors, uniquely without changing the outer walls. The Jones family line having failed during the First World War, the Castle passed to Oliver Henry Jones’ great niece Clara, Lady Boothby, who brought with her many possessions of the ancient Boothby and Valpy families. The property has since passed by descent.
Further notable paintings on offer from other vendors in the sale include Still life of assorted Summer flowers in a glazed vase before a window by Dorothea Sharp, “The Church of Santa Maria della Salute, Venice” by Antoinetta Brandeis and a fine marine painting, “Westward & Britannia Racing off the Royal Yacht Squadron, Isle of Wight” by Richard Firth.
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Sunday 9th March - Thursday 13th March 11am-3pm, Friday 14th March 8am-3pm and morning of the sale from 8am
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