Literature
Lady Victoria Manners and G.C.Williamson, John Zoffany, R.A., 1920, pp.155-156, 241, illustrated opposite p.156;
Helen Comstock, 'The Connoisseur in America', Connoisseur, 1935, vol x cv, p.224, illus. p.225;
Evelyne Bell, 'The Life and Work of Henry Walton', Gainsborough's House Review, 1998-99, no.123, fig.18
Notes
A work of grandeur and yet also intimacy, the present picture is one of the finest conversation pieces of the late eighteenth century. Long attributed to Zoffany the work has now been correctly identified as by the hand of Henry Walton, an artist recognisable for the humour and the rare warmth with which he treats his subjects.
The scene is a hunt breakfast. All the gentlemen are in hunting costume and the breakfast-table is laid with a silver tea urn, cups and saucers. There is a genial sense of informality to the scene, focused on the host, Mr Robert Palmer, of Holme Park, Reading, Berkshire, who is seated at the table in the centre. His guests are, from left to right, George Henry Fitzroy, 4th Duke of Grafton (1760-1844), Sir Richard Aldworth Neville (1750-1825), of Stanlake Park, Berkshire, Sir Thomas Beauchamp-Proctor, 2nd Bt. (1756-1827), of Langley Park, Norwich, Mr Francis Pym, M.P. (1756-1833), of Hasells Hall, Bedfordshire, Mr George Beauchamp-Proctor, and Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford (1765-1802).
All the guests relate to their host on varying levels of intimacy, a fact which Walton has emphasised by means of the composition. Three of the sitters are sons-in-law to Mr Palmer. They are Mr Pym, Sir Thomas and Mr George Beauchamp-Proctor. All three stand together, to the right of their father-in-law in the picture, and Sir Thomas rests a friendly arm on the shoulder of Mr Palmer. Sir Thomas was the eldest son of William Beauchamp-Proctor and his wife, Jane, daughter of Christopher Towers, of Huntsmore, Buckinghamshire. In May 1778 he married Mary, Mr Palmer's second daughter. There is also a significant connection between Sir Thomas and Henry Walton himself, since during Walton's later life, when he had all but finished with portraiture, he was instrumental in advising Sir Thomas on his art collection. A portrait of Sir Thomas by Benjamin West, P.R.A. is in the Tate Gallery, London.
George Beauchamp-Proctor was Sir Thomas's younger brother, and he also married into Mr Palmer's family. Mr Pym was the son of William Pym, and his wife, Elizabeth, the daughter of Heylock Kingsley, and in May 1784 he married Mr Palmer's daughter, Anne. He was appointed Sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1791, and was well established amongst the Bedfordshire gentry. He subsequently served as M.P. for Bedforshire, supported by the 6th Duke of Bedford, between 1806-18 and 1820-26. Respected for his 'sterling sense and sound integrity' Pym had a sound political career as a Whig, but he never made a wider mark on the political scene.
To the right of Mr Palmer's immediate family sits the Duke of Bedford. Mr Palmer was a rich London lawyer in Great Russell Street where he became both the friend and agent of the Duke. This friendship is emphasised by the Duke's relaxed pose and his proximity to the host, but their more professional distance is also emphasised by the Duke's slightly disinterested gaze into the distance.
The Duke was the son of Francis Russell, Marquis of Tavistock, and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of William Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle. He developed a close attachment to Charles James Fox, who encouraged him to take a more active role as a debater in the Commons. He had a distinguished career as a Whig politician, but beyond politics the Duke's passion was for the country. Charles James Fox remarked that 'The principal employment of the duke's later years was agriculture', and the Duke was nominated a member of the original board of agriculture in 1793 only a few years after this portrait must have been painted. He subsequently became first president of the Smithfield Club and established a model farm at Woburn, which foreshadowed the wildlife park which is there now.
The breakfast table separates the final two sitters from the rest of the breakfast party, the Duke of Grafton and Sir Richard Aldworth. Sir Richard Aldworth served as M.P. for Grampound, 1774-80, and subsequently for Buckingham, 1780-82 and Reading, 1782-1797. He became 2nd Baron Braybrook in 1797. His estates were at Stanlake Park, Berkshire, only a short distance from those of his host. His stance is awkward, and the fact that he still carries his riding hat and crop in his hand, whilst others talk or read the paper, indicates that there was probably no greater an intimacy between himself and Mr Palmer than the courtesy of neighbours.
The same must be true of George Fitzroy, 4th Duke of Grafton who gazes out of the picture, slightly separated from the rest of the party. He was the son of Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke, and his first wife, Anne, daughter of Henry Liddell, Baron Ravensworth. The sitter also entered the world of politics, serving as a M.P for Thetford, 1782-84. He was a good friend of William Pitt the younger, and in 1790 he was appointed as Lord-Lieutenant of Suffolk, and the King's gamekeeper at Newmarket. He was hereditary ranger of Whittlebury Forest, recorder of Thetford, a trustee of the Hunterian Museum and President of the Eclectic Society of London. In 1784 he married Lady Maria Charlotte Waldegrave, second daughter of James, 2nd Earl of Waldegrave. He became a widower in 1808, and succeeded to the dukedom a few years later in 1811. He eventually retired from politics, spending the last twenty years of his life with family at Euston Hall, Suffolk. He received the Garter in 1834.
The present work dates to the late 1780s, and relates closely to Reinagle's famous Carrow Abbey Hunt of 1780, now in the Tate Gallery. The interior in which we see the guests must be Mr Palmer's house, Hurst Lodge, Berkshire, since it was not until 1795, and the death of Sir Thomas Rich, Bt., that Mr Palmer purchased Holme Park. He promptly demolished the old house and set about building a new house in the latest Georgian style. The family lived here for just over a hundred years, until the estate was sold in 1912 to become a preparatory school as it is now.
A compositional tour de force, this hunt breakfast conversation piece remains one of Walton's most accomplished and intimate portraits.
