The Death of the Earl of Chatham

Provenance

Possibly (Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 23 May 1865, no. 130, bought in).[1] (Henry Graves & Co., London).[2] Susan Greene Amory Dexter [Mrs. Franklin Gordon Dexter, 1840-1924], Boston, the artist's great-granddaughter;[3] her son, Gordon Dexter [1864-1937], Boston;[4] his widow, Isabella Hunnewell Dexter [c. 1871-1968], Boston;[5] gift 1947 to NGA. [1] _Catalogue of a valuable Assemblage of Chiefly Modern Pictures, and Drawings and Engravings and some capital copies from celebrated Italian Pictures: which will be sold by Auction ... on Tuesday, May 23, 1865_, 9; Graves 1918, 1:149. According to Christie's records, the consignor was W. Bettle, 195, Bishopsgate, London; Jeremy Rex-Parkes, archivist, letter, 2 August 1991, in NGA curatorial files; the painting was bought in. Jules David Prown, _John Singleton Copley_ 2 vols. (Cambridge, Mass., 1966), 2:438, incorrectly stated that lot 130 was purchased by James Anderdon, who in fact bought his two sketches at the H. Scott Trimmer sale (Christie's, 17 March 1860, lot 31) and the Lyndhurst sale (Christie's, 5 March 1864, lot 70). Those sketches are now owned by the Tate Gallery, London. Frank W. Bayley, _A Sketch of the Life and a List of Some of the Works of John Singleton Copley_ (Boston, 1910), 34, erroneously claimed that the National Gallery's sketch was from the Lyndhurst sale. [2] A printed label of Henry Graves & Co., 6 Pall Mall, London, inscribed with the number 765, is attached to the stretcher. Graves [1806-1892] was a dealer and print publisher in London from 1852; see Fritz Lugt, _Les Marques de collections de dessins et d'estampes_ (Amsterdam, 1921), 195, 561; _Supplément_ (The Hague, 1956), 160. His ownership of the painting is not otherwise documented or dated. He was probably also the buyer of Copley's _Baron Graham_ (1942.4.1) at auction in 1878 in London, a painting he apparently sold to the artist's granddaughter, Martha Babcock Amory. Both _Baron Graham_ and this oil sketch were later owned by her daughter, Susan Greene Amory Dexter. [3] Bayley 1910, 34; Mrs. Dexter's birthdate is in John William Linzee, _The Linzee Family of Great Britain and the United States of America_ (Boston, 1917), 2:781-782; her death date is in "Proceedings of the New England Historic Genealogical Society" (meeting of 1 April, 1925), _The New England Historical and Genealogical Register_ 74 (July, 1925): 325. [4] Dexter is listed in _Who Was Who in America_, vol. 1, _1897-1942_ (Chicago, 1966), 320. [5] Mrs. Dexter died at the age of 97 in New York City; obituary, _The New York Times_, 16 December 1968, 47.

The Death of the Earl of Chatham

Copley, John Singleton

1779

Accession Number

1947.15.1

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 52.7 x 64.2 cm (20 3/4 x 25 1/4 in.) | framed: 79.7 x 91.6 x 6.7 cm (31 3/8 x 36 1/16 x 2 5/8 in.)

Classification

Painting

Museum

National Gallery of Art

Washington, D.C., United States

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Gordon Dexter