About this lot
Description
Sir Henry Raeburn FRSE, RA, RSA (Scottish, 1756-1823) and Studio
Portrait of Professor George Joseph Bell (1770-1843) half-length, wearing a dark brown coat with white stock
oil on canvas
74 x 62cm
Provenance:
By descent to T. Jeffrey Bell;
With Wallis & Son, 1910;
Hon. Sir Ewan Charteris (1864-1940);
Guy Bolton, his sale, Sotheby's, 7th November 1956, lot 55, bt. Charles Robertson, Combe Hay Manor;
Sotheby's, London, 26th March 2004, lot 30
Exhibited:
Glasgow International Exhibition, 1901, no.79
Literature:
Sir Walter Armstrong, Sir Henry Raeburn, 1901, p. 96;
James Grieg, Sir Henry Raeburn, RA: His Life and Works, 1911, p. 38;
David Mackie, Raeburn, Life and Art, doctoral thesis, 1993, vol. II, pp. 174-175, no. 42b, as 'part replica'
Footnote:
George Joseph Bell was born in Edinburgh, the son of William Bell. He became advocate in 1791 and devoted himself to the study of Scottish mercantile law. In 1804, he published his Treatise on the Laws of Bankruptcy in Scotland (1804) which came to be regarded as one of the leading legal textbooks of his day. In 1822, Bell was appointed Professor of Scots Law at Edinburgh University, and in 1832 became one of the four principal clerks of sessions. He later chaired the Royal Commission for the amendment of Scottish Law which led to the Scottish Bankruptcy Act of 1839.
The sitter's younger brother, Sir Charles Bell (1774-1842), the distinguished surgeon, was also painted by Raeburn. In 1805, Bell married Barbara Shaw who herself sat to Raeburn in 1810.
The present painting relates to the larger, three-quarter length portrait of the sitter (126 x 100cm), painted by Raeburn in 1816, when Bell was appointed Professor of Conveyancing to the Society of Writers to the Signet. That portrait was presented to Parliament House by his son, Dr C W Bell in 1856 and was last recorded in a private collection in Washington, D. C. (see Mackie, pp. 173-174, no. 42).
Condition report:
92 x 79cm (framed)
The painting is executed in oil on a linen canvas support which has been lined. The canvas tension is stiff and the picture is in plane. The paint layers are stable and secure. Areas of overpaint are generally well matched to the original and are mainly located in the sitter’s face. The varnish is thick, glossy and brittle. Brittle cracks are starting to form around the edges and there are numerous scuffs to the surface. A layer of surface dirt lies on top of the varnish.
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