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Circle of John Hoppner, RA (British, 1758-1810)Portrait of Lady Masterman-Sykes of Settrington (1766-1813) inscribed with the identity of the sitter to the stretcher oil on canvas 75 x 62cmProvenance: By descent from the sitter to her cousin Henry Barlow (1757-1826), To his brother Reverend George Francis Barlow (1768-1850) and thence by descentHenrietta Masterman was the only child of Henry Masterman of Settrington, Yorkshire, and became sole heiress of the Settrington Estate on the death of her father in 1771. In 1795, Henrietta married Mark Sykes (1771-1823) eldest son of Sir Christopher Sykes, 2nd Bt. of Sledmere, on which occasion her husband assumed the additional name of Masterman before his name. Mark Sykes served as High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1795-96, was an MP for York and a famous bibliophile. Henrietta shared her husband's passion for books - she was an author and wrote a collection of stories, poems and two Gothic novels, of which the most successful - Margiana, or Widdrington Tower (1808) - was much enjoyed by Jane Austen herself. In 1808, Henrietta, her husband and his brother Tatton Sykes sat for a portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence, now at Sledmere House, Yorkshire. Henrietta died in 1813 aged 47 without issue. We are grateful to Dr John Wilson for his assistance with this catalogue entry. CONDITIONOil on canvas which has been lined. The canvas tension is good and the picture is in plane. Thin areas of the painting appear abraded. At the upper edge the paint layer is cracked and lifting away from the support. There are areas of overpaint across the surface. In the sitter’a face the overpaint is thick and pasty but in the background it is more fluid and transparent. The varnish is clear and semi-matte. The glazing of the frame is dirty inside and out. 

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