Lot 45: John Opie, R.A. , 1761-1807 Portrait of Captain Joseph Lamb Popham R.N. (1771-1833) oil on canvas, held in a British Rococo style frame

half-length, wearing naval uniform oil on canvas, held in a British Rococo style frame

measurements note 72 by 60 cm., 28 1/4 by 23 1/2 in.

A. Earland, John Opie and his Circle, 1911, p.308;
J.J. Rogers, Opie and his Works, 1878, p.147

Commissioned from the artist by the sitter;
by desent to his daughter-in-law Mrs C.W. Popham;
Mrs T.J. Uzielli;
with Walker Galleries;
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's London, 18th November 1992, lot 40

The sitter was the son of Joseph Popham, consul at Tetuan from 1728, and his second wife Catherine Lamb. He was half brother of the celebrated naval commander Sir Home Riggs Popham. Born in Falmouth, one of twenty-one children, in 1794 he was made a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and promoted Captain in 1797. On 17th July 1801 he married Phillippa Wallis, of Trevarno, near Helston in Cornwall by whom he had six children. His eldest son, Christopher Wallace Popham of Antron Lodge, was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1833. His youngest daughter, Catherine Lamb Popham, married William Stephens Dicken, Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals, Bengal.