Lot 11: Charles D'Agar (1669-1723)

Portrait of a young gentleman of the Halsey family, three-quarter-length, in a green coat and hat with a pink cloak, holding a bow in his left hand, in a landscape, feigned oval
oil on canvas
30 1/4 x 25 1/4 in. (76.8 x 64.1 cm.)

The Halsey Family, Gaddesden Place, Hertfordshire.

The identity of the sitter is not recorded, however, it would seem likely on the basis of the date of the portrait that the sitter was one of the sons of Thomas Halsey (d.1715), Member of Parliament for Great Gaddesden and High Sheriff of Hertfordshire, and his wife Anne Henshaw. Their first son, Henshaw, succeeded his father in 1715, but died without issue in 1738. Their second son, Charles, also High Sheriff of Hertfordshire, married Agatha Dorrien in 1746.

Charles D'Agar was the only surviving son of the portrait painter Jacques D'Agar (1642-1715). He was born in Paris in 1669, but his family were forced to emigrate to London, on account of their Protestant faith, between 1678 and 1681. In 1684, the D'Agar family left England for Copenhagen, where Charles' father worked at the Courts of Christian V and Frederick IV, until his death in 1715. Charles returned to England in 1691 and became a portraitist at the Court of William III (1650-1702). His reputation rivalled that of Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723).

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