Lot 12: Benjamin Wilson (1721-1788)

Group portrait of the Hussey family, small full-length, in the garden of Wargrave Hill House, Berkshire
oil on canvas
40 x 50 in. (101.6 x 127 cm.)

Lady Victoria Manners and Dr. G.C. Williamson, John Zoffany, R.A. His Life and Works 1735-1810, London 1920, p. 160, as by Zoffany.

By descent to the sitter's son Mr Hussey, Wargrave Hill House, (d.1830), and bequeathed by his widow to Carew S. Robinson, of Duppas Hill, Croydon (d. 1895), by whom bequeathed to her godson Robert Marshall, The Waldron, Croydon (d. 1933) and by inheritance to Ms. Marshall; Sotheby's, 22 November 1967, lot 43.
with Frost & Reed, London.
with Spink & Son Ltd. by 1968.

This picture shows Hubert and Anne (née Clements) Hussey and their daughter in the grounds of their home, Wargrave Hill House, Berkshire. Benjamin Wilson was one of the leading portrait painters in England during the 1750s. As well as having a successful portrait practice, Wilson was renowned for scenery painting, but was best known to contemporaries as a scientist.
The present work has previously been attributed to Johan Zoffany by Lady Victoria Manners (op. cit.). Early in his career Zoffany worked in Wilson's studio and was much influenced by his style.

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