Portrait of a Lady, Mrs William Acton of Bramford Hall, in a Silk Dress and Blue Fur-Trimmed Cape c.1740 Signed
By Thomas Bardwell (1704-1767)
This exquisite work, painted circa 1740, formed part of the collection of family pictures and heirlooms of the Barons de Saumarez, descendants of the sitter, at their magnificent 1,400-acre manor, Shrubland Park, near Ipswich. The manor was considered amongst the finest Italianate country homes in Britain and the family held the estate for over 200 years until it was sold in 2006 thus marking the end of an era. See the attached sketch, as illustrated in the London News in July 1851, showing the arrival of Prince Albert at Shrubland.
The subject is depicted wearing a fine white silk dress and a blue fur trimmed cape, and seated in an interior. One arm rests on a large swag curtain draped on a table, and in her right hand she holds flowers, the symbol of love and purity. Signed by the prolific Suffolk artist, Thomas Bardwell, it is a finely depicted portrait of a beautiful young lady and a prime example of his work. Bardwell painted many distinguished individuals in Suffolk at the time including many member of this sitter’s family. His graceful portraits were very much admired at the time and today his work is represented in many museums and grand country houses throughout Britain.
Our portrait, depicts a subject about thirty years of age, and on the basis of clothing and hairstyle, it was painted around 1740. Mr Kirby Talley Jr., in his writing for the Walpole Society (Thomas Bardwell of Bungay, Artist and Author 1704-1767 with a Checklist of Works', Walpole Society, Vol. XLVI, 1976-78) identified the sitter as the wife of William Acton of Bramford Hall (c.1684-1744) and recorded it in the Saumarez collection, descendants of the sitter at their magnificent family home, Shrubland Park, Suffolk. Our painting was thought to be the companion portrait to that of her husband, William Acton, also at Shrubland. William appears to be approximately 55 years of age in his portrait based on the physiognomy and clothing and hair style. The year prior to 1740, William was High Sherrif for Suffolk, and this may have been the impetus for which the portraits were commissioned. The couple are believed to have had a daughter, Isabella Acton, (born after 1707 and died before 1744) - it is plausible that she is in fact the subject of our portrait.
William Acton was the second son of John Acton of Bramford Hall (1650-1695) and either his first wife Isabel Buxton or his second wife Elizabeth Lamb (1654-1727). He succeeded his elder brother John to the family estate but died without heirs on 23 January 1744 and was buried in St Peters church, Baylham, Suffolk. Bramford Hall passed through several generations and was still held by his descendants in the mid-twentieth century, Jane Anne Vere-Broke, Lady de Saumarez at Shrubland Park (who had also inherited Broke Hall, another ancestral home nearby).
For Shrubland is one of those rare entities, a complete country estate, owned by the same family for more than 200 years, and comprising a grand, Grade II listed, historic house, with spectacular Italianate gardens, set in a Grade I listed Repton landscape. The first recorded owner of the estate was Robert de Shrubeland, although there is evidence of occupation on the site since the Roman period. The previous Tudor-style Shrubland Hall was built by the Booth family in the early 16th century but was purchased by the influential Bacon family in the 17th century and rebuilt by John Bacon, a wealthy clergyman, in the 1770s. It remained in the Bacon family for four generations before it was sold to Sir William Fowle Middleton, 1st Baronet (1748-1829) in 1795. He married Harriet Acton. Sir William’s father had just returned to Suffolk from South Carolina when he inherited Crowfield Hall (at Middleton Place near Charleston, the Middleton’s had created what remains one of the largest and grandest houses and gardens on the eastern seaboard of America - evidently they were determined to rival it at Shrubland and in 1801 Middleton’s brother, Henry, gave him £30,000 (£6.5 million today) that he had just won on the lottery to spend on improvements at Shrubland – thus Shrubland boats one of the grandest entrances to any country house in England). The front doors open into a domed festival like a Renaissance chapel, with columned gallery on either side. Ahead is a grand staircase, a single straight flight inspired by the Scala Regia in the Vatican, with a shallow Grecian vault as exquisite as Sir John Soane in the Bank of England.
On his death the estate passed to his son, Sir William Fowle Middleton (1784-1860), and on his death, it passed to his cousin, Admiral Sir George Nathaniel Broke Middleton (1812-1887). He, too, died childless, and Shrubland passed to his niece, Jane Ann Broke (1847-1933), who married James St Vincent, 4th Baron de Saumarez (1843-1937) in 1882, thus becoming The Right Honorable Jane Ann, Baroness de Saumarez. The estate then descended to the 7th Baron de Saumarez before it was sold to pay high death duties in 2006 (our portrait lot 279, Sotheby’s London, held on the premises, on Sept 19-21). The sale was described as the most important property sale in East Anglia in a generation: “Shrubland was one of finest stately halls, with the attributed of a fine stately home, spectacular gardens including more than 1,300 acres, 42 cottages and farmhouses. In almost every other European country it would be called a palace. The closest comparison is with Queen Victoria’s Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.”
The Saumarez family was, and still is, based in the Channel Islands and are one of the Norman families who settled there in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Baron de Saumarez, of the Island of Guernsey, is a title in the peerage of the United Kingdom created on 15 September 1831 for the naval commander Admiral Sir James Saumarez, 1st Baronet. The ancestral family seat was at Le Guet, Castel, on the island of Guernsey, with a second seat at Shrubland Park.
Presented in a beautiful gilded period frame.
Thomas Bardwell, was born, probably at Worlingworth, Suffolk, in 1704, son of John Bardwell, a farmer at Worlingworth. Thomas established himself as a decorative painter at Bungay, Suffolk and by 1732 had a thriving business, employing at least one apprentice, a business that he handed over to his younger brother Robert in 1738 so he could focus on portrait painting. By 1740 his business was thriving as he painted much of the local clientele. He may also have worked briefly in London, as 1740–1741, he produced the portraits John Campbell, Duke of Argyll, and David Garrick, newly acclaimed as Richard III at Goodman's Fields. In 1752 he journeyed to Scotland, via Yorkshire, painting several portraits and some decorative work. Thomas was back in the south by the end of 1753 and from 1759 to the end of his life thrived as a portraitist in Norwich.
Bardwell was described as “through the power of genius and dint of application, acquired a degree of perfection in his art”. He wrote a book in 1756 (which enjoyed great popularity and repeated editions after his death) entitled “The Practice of Painting and Perspective Made Easy”, resulting from a study of seventeenth-century paintings in East Anglian collections. Remarkably, he was granted a Crown copyright for his book, which gave him the sole rights - a practise that was highly exceptional in the eighteenth century. No doubt can exist that Bardwell’s book was held in great esteem for almost a century after it was written. The book is also considered as one of the most original productions of its kind written in England.
His work is similar in composition and technique to a number of painters who were his contemporaries including Thomas Hudson, John Vanderbank, Charles Jervas, Allan Ramsay, Maria and William Verelst, and John Heins, and has often been confused with theirs.
There is (or was) a memorial in the church of St Mary’s, Bungay St. Mary, Suffolk to “Thomas Bardwell, portrait painter, died 9 September 1767, aged 63”.
Literature:
A topographical and genealogical history of the County of Suffolk, Augustine Page, Publication date 1847;
M. Kirby Talley, 'Thomas Bardwell of Bungay, Artist and Author 1704-1767 with a Checklist of Works', Walpole Society, Vol. XLVI, 1976-78, pp.128-129;
Kirby Talley, Thomas Bardwell of Bungay, Artist and Author, 1704-67, Walpole Society, vol 46, 1972-8, cat 1-3;
Edmund Farrer, Portraits in Suffolk Houses, West
Provenance:
(Probably) William Acton of Bramford Hall (c.1684-1744) to his nephew;
Nathaniel Acton (1726-1795) to his son;
Nathaniel Lee Acton (1757-1836) to his sister; (he left Livermere Park, Bramford Hall, Baylham Hall, Claydon Hall / Mockbeggars Hall to Harriet);
Harriet (Acton) Middleton (1755-1852) to her son;
Sir William Fowle Middleton (1784-1860) to his nephew;
Admiral Sir George Broke-Middleton, 3rd Bt. (1812-87), Broke Hall and Shrubland Park, Suffolk; to his niece;
Jane Anne Acton Vere Broke (1847-1933), wife of James St Vincent, 4th Baron de Saumarez (1843-1937) to their son;
5th Baron de Saumarez to their son;
6th Baron de Saumarez to their son;
7th Baron de Saumarez;
His sale, removed from Shrubland Park; Sotheby's, London, 19-21 Sept 2006 [Lot 279]
Measurements:
Height 143.5cm, Width 118cm, Depth 8.5cm framed (Height 56.5”, Width 56.5”, Depth 3.25” framed)
£ 15,950
€ 18,150 (EU market only)
$ 18,550 (US market only)
By Thomas Bardwell (1704-1767)
This exquisite work, painted circa 1740, formed part of the collection of family pictures and heirlooms of the Barons de Saumarez, descendants of the sitter, at their magnificent 1,400-acre manor, Shrubland Park, near Ipswich. The manor was considered amongst the finest Italianate country homes in Britain and the family held the estate for over 200 years until it was sold in 2006 thus marking the end of an era. See the attached sketch, as illustrated in the London News in July 1851, showing the arrival of Prince Albert at Shrubland.
The subject is depicted wearing a fine white silk dress and a blue fur trimmed cape, and seated in an interior. One arm rests on a large swag curtain draped on a table, and in her right hand she holds flowers, the symbol of love and purity. Signed by the prolific Suffolk artist, Thomas Bardwell, it is a finely depicted portrait of a beautiful young lady and a prime example of his work. Bardwell painted many distinguished individuals in Suffolk at the time including many member of this sitter’s family. His graceful portraits were very much admired at the time and today his work is represented in many museums and grand country houses throughout Britain.
Our portrait, depicts a subject about thirty years of age, and on the basis of clothing and hairstyle, it was painted around 1740. Mr Kirby Talley Jr., in his writing for the Walpole Society (Thomas Bardwell of Bungay, Artist and Author 1704-1767 with a Checklist of Works', Walpole Society, Vol. XLVI, 1976-78) identified the sitter as the wife of William Acton of Bramford Hall (c.1684-1744) and recorded it in the Saumarez collection, descendants of the sitter at their magnificent family home, Shrubland Park, Suffolk. Our painting was thought to be the companion portrait to that of her husband, William Acton, also at Shrubland. William appears to be approximately 55 years of age in his portrait based on the physiognomy and clothing and hair style. The year prior to 1740, William was High Sherrif for Suffolk, and this may have been the impetus for which the portraits were commissioned. The couple are believed to have had a daughter, Isabella Acton, (born after 1707 and died before 1744) - it is plausible that she is in fact the subject of our portrait.
William Acton was the second son of John Acton of Bramford Hall (1650-1695) and either his first wife Isabel Buxton or his second wife Elizabeth Lamb (1654-1727). He succeeded his elder brother John to the family estate but died without heirs on 23 January 1744 and was buried in St Peters church, Baylham, Suffolk. Bramford Hall passed through several generations and was still held by his descendants in the mid-twentieth century, Jane Anne Vere-Broke, Lady de Saumarez at Shrubland Park (who had also inherited Broke Hall, another ancestral home nearby).
For Shrubland is one of those rare entities, a complete country estate, owned by the same family for more than 200 years, and comprising a grand, Grade II listed, historic house, with spectacular Italianate gardens, set in a Grade I listed Repton landscape. The first recorded owner of the estate was Robert de Shrubeland, although there is evidence of occupation on the site since the Roman period. The previous Tudor-style Shrubland Hall was built by the Booth family in the early 16th century but was purchased by the influential Bacon family in the 17th century and rebuilt by John Bacon, a wealthy clergyman, in the 1770s. It remained in the Bacon family for four generations before it was sold to Sir William Fowle Middleton, 1st Baronet (1748-1829) in 1795. He married Harriet Acton. Sir William’s father had just returned to Suffolk from South Carolina when he inherited Crowfield Hall (at Middleton Place near Charleston, the Middleton’s had created what remains one of the largest and grandest houses and gardens on the eastern seaboard of America - evidently they were determined to rival it at Shrubland and in 1801 Middleton’s brother, Henry, gave him £30,000 (£6.5 million today) that he had just won on the lottery to spend on improvements at Shrubland – thus Shrubland boats one of the grandest entrances to any country house in England). The front doors open into a domed festival like a Renaissance chapel, with columned gallery on either side. Ahead is a grand staircase, a single straight flight inspired by the Scala Regia in the Vatican, with a shallow Grecian vault as exquisite as Sir John Soane in the Bank of England.
On his death the estate passed to his son, Sir William Fowle Middleton (1784-1860), and on his death, it passed to his cousin, Admiral Sir George Nathaniel Broke Middleton (1812-1887). He, too, died childless, and Shrubland passed to his niece, Jane Ann Broke (1847-1933), who married James St Vincent, 4th Baron de Saumarez (1843-1937) in 1882, thus becoming The Right Honorable Jane Ann, Baroness de Saumarez. The estate then descended to the 7th Baron de Saumarez before it was sold to pay high death duties in 2006 (our portrait lot 279, Sotheby’s London, held on the premises, on Sept 19-21). The sale was described as the most important property sale in East Anglia in a generation: “Shrubland was one of finest stately halls, with the attributed of a fine stately home, spectacular gardens including more than 1,300 acres, 42 cottages and farmhouses. In almost every other European country it would be called a palace. The closest comparison is with Queen Victoria’s Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.”
The Saumarez family was, and still is, based in the Channel Islands and are one of the Norman families who settled there in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Baron de Saumarez, of the Island of Guernsey, is a title in the peerage of the United Kingdom created on 15 September 1831 for the naval commander Admiral Sir James Saumarez, 1st Baronet. The ancestral family seat was at Le Guet, Castel, on the island of Guernsey, with a second seat at Shrubland Park.
Presented in a beautiful gilded period frame.
Thomas Bardwell, was born, probably at Worlingworth, Suffolk, in 1704, son of John Bardwell, a farmer at Worlingworth. Thomas established himself as a decorative painter at Bungay, Suffolk and by 1732 had a thriving business, employing at least one apprentice, a business that he handed over to his younger brother Robert in 1738 so he could focus on portrait painting. By 1740 his business was thriving as he painted much of the local clientele. He may also have worked briefly in London, as 1740–1741, he produced the portraits John Campbell, Duke of Argyll, and David Garrick, newly acclaimed as Richard III at Goodman's Fields. In 1752 he journeyed to Scotland, via Yorkshire, painting several portraits and some decorative work. Thomas was back in the south by the end of 1753 and from 1759 to the end of his life thrived as a portraitist in Norwich.
Bardwell was described as “through the power of genius and dint of application, acquired a degree of perfection in his art”. He wrote a book in 1756 (which enjoyed great popularity and repeated editions after his death) entitled “The Practice of Painting and Perspective Made Easy”, resulting from a study of seventeenth-century paintings in East Anglian collections. Remarkably, he was granted a Crown copyright for his book, which gave him the sole rights - a practise that was highly exceptional in the eighteenth century. No doubt can exist that Bardwell’s book was held in great esteem for almost a century after it was written. The book is also considered as one of the most original productions of its kind written in England.
His work is similar in composition and technique to a number of painters who were his contemporaries including Thomas Hudson, John Vanderbank, Charles Jervas, Allan Ramsay, Maria and William Verelst, and John Heins, and has often been confused with theirs.
There is (or was) a memorial in the church of St Mary’s, Bungay St. Mary, Suffolk to “Thomas Bardwell, portrait painter, died 9 September 1767, aged 63”.
Literature:
A topographical and genealogical history of the County of Suffolk, Augustine Page, Publication date 1847;
M. Kirby Talley, 'Thomas Bardwell of Bungay, Artist and Author 1704-1767 with a Checklist of Works', Walpole Society, Vol. XLVI, 1976-78, pp.128-129;
Kirby Talley, Thomas Bardwell of Bungay, Artist and Author, 1704-67, Walpole Society, vol 46, 1972-8, cat 1-3;
Edmund Farrer, Portraits in Suffolk Houses, West
Provenance:
(Probably) William Acton of Bramford Hall (c.1684-1744) to his nephew;
Nathaniel Acton (1726-1795) to his son;
Nathaniel Lee Acton (1757-1836) to his sister; (he left Livermere Park, Bramford Hall, Baylham Hall, Claydon Hall / Mockbeggars Hall to Harriet);
Harriet (Acton) Middleton (1755-1852) to her son;
Sir William Fowle Middleton (1784-1860) to his nephew;
Admiral Sir George Broke-Middleton, 3rd Bt. (1812-87), Broke Hall and Shrubland Park, Suffolk; to his niece;
Jane Anne Acton Vere Broke (1847-1933), wife of James St Vincent, 4th Baron de Saumarez (1843-1937) to their son;
5th Baron de Saumarez to their son;
6th Baron de Saumarez to their son;
7th Baron de Saumarez;
His sale, removed from Shrubland Park; Sotheby's, London, 19-21 Sept 2006 [Lot 279]
Measurements:
Height 143.5cm, Width 118cm, Depth 8.5cm framed (Height 56.5”, Width 56.5”, Depth 3.25” framed)
£ 15,950
€ 18,150 (EU market only)
$ 18,550 (US market only)