15th Mar, 2025 9:30 GMT/BST
British, European & Sporting Art
1069
The Rev. Matthew William Peters, RA (1741-1814)
Portrait of Miss Maria Boothby (1758-1805), daughter of Sir Brooke Boothby, 5th Bart (1710-1789), half-length, wearing a pink dress, a muslin scarf and carrying a fur muff
Oil on canvas, 75cm by 62.5cm
Provenance: By descent in the Boothby family at Fonmon Castle, Glamorgan, to the present owner.
The Property of Sir Brooke Boothby, 15th Bt., removed from Fonmon Castle, Glamorgan
Sotheby's London, Wednesday, January 17, 2024 (Lot 123) Royal & Noble Including Jewels from an Important Noble Collection
Literature: A. Oswald, 'Fonmon Castle, Glamorgan - III: Home of Sir Seymour Boothby, Bt., and Lady Boothby, Country Life, vol. 105, no. 2724, 1 April 1949, p. 737, reproduced; J. Steegman, A Survey of Portraits in Welsh Houses, 2 vols, Cardiff 1962, vol. II, p. 96, no. 33, reproduced pl. 17, no. C (as attributed to Reverend Matthew William Peters, R.A.); A.D. Fraser Jenkins, 'The Paintings at Fonmon Castle', in S. Williams, Stewart Williams' Glamorgan Historian, vol. 7, Glamorgan 1971, pp. 68-69, reproduced (as probably by Reverend Matthew William Peters, R.A.).
Sold for £1,000
Estimated at £1,200 - £1,800
Unlined, a strainer rather than a stretcher. Old tears/rucks to the tacking margins. Lacking in tension. Slight bulge/distortion to the bottom edge. A shallow dent with minor paint loss above the right shoulder and a puncture/hole to the canvas in the top right quadrant. There are strainer bar marks. There is a brittle age craquelure throughout, slightly raised and pulling/quilting the canvas slightly, but appears stable with the exception of some minor flaking associated with the stretcher bar (some of the losses are retouched), and at the bottom edge. . Some minor wrinkling/drying cracs in the background. There is minor loss of paint and ground from a blow to the bottom right corner. There are futher minor scattered losses including at the edges where there has been contact with the frame. Possibly some minor abrasion, but difficult to see under degraded varnish. Very thick old degraded, yellowed varnish, a little ingrained dirt and varnish, a layer of surface dirt including fly spotting, marks etc.
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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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