Lot 36: Giles Hussey (Marnhull 1710-1788 Beaston) Portrait of a boy, traditionally identified as John Wolffe,

Portrait of a boy, traditionally identified as John Wolffe, three-quarter-length, in a blue brocade fur-trimmed coat, seated at a table holding a book
oil on canvas
81.6 x 63.4cm (32 1/8 x 24 15/16in).

PROVENANCE:
Sutton Place, Sutton Green
Sale, Sotheby's London, 8 April 1992, lot 29
Sale, Sotheby's London, 30 June 2005, lot 11

John Wolffe was one of the three grandsons of William Wolffe who married Frances Weston of Sutton Place.

Giles Hussey is known to have made a portrait of John Wolffe, aged 11, which he then signed on the reverse (see Frederic Harrison, Annals of an Old Manor House, Sutton Place, Guildford, 1893, p. 162) and the present work may well be that missing painting. It is shown hanging in the hall at Sutton Place in 1914, when it was photographed for Country Life (Country Life, 7 February, 1914, p. 204).