Lot 276: JOHN  WOOTTON

SNITTERFIELD,  WARWICKSHIRE  CIRCA  1678  -  1764  LONDON
PORTRAIT  OF  A  GENTLEMAN  ON  HORSEBACK,  PROBABLY  JAMES  DOUGLAS-HAMILTON,  5TH  DUKE  OF  HAMILTON  AND  2ND  DUKE  OF  BRANDON  (1703-1743),  MOUNTED  ON  A  BAY  HUNTER,  WITH  HIS  GROOM  HOLDING  ANOTHER  HORSE  BY  A  CLASSICAL  ARCH,  AND  A  GREYHOUND
signed,  centre  right:  J.WOOTTON  /  fecit,  and  indistinctly  inscribed  on  an  old  label,  verso,  which  bears  a  wax  seal  stamped  with  the  Hamilton  crest
oil  on  canvas
112  by  105.5  cm.;  44  by  41  1/2    in.

Probably commissioned by the sitter, and by descent to his son James Hamilton, 6υth Duke of Hamilton and 3υrd Duke of Brandon (1724-1758);
Probably by descent to his son, James Hamilton, 7υth Duke of Hamilton and 4υth Duke of Brandon (1755-1769);
Probably by inheritance to his brother, Douglas Hamilton, 8υth Duke of Hamilton and 5υth Duke of Brandon (1756-1799);
Proabably inheritance to his uncle, Archibald Douglas-Hamilton, 9υth Duke of Hamilton and 6υth Duke of Brandon (1740-1819), who is the first recorded owner of the picture;
By inheritance to his daughter Lady Charlotte, who married Edward St. Maur, 11υth Duke of Somerset (1775-1855);
By descent to their son, Edward Adolphus St. Maur, 12υth Duke of Somerset (1804-1885), as part of the Stover Collection;
Stover Collection sale, London, Christie's, 28 June 1890, lot 23, for 25½ gns. to Ramsden (as an unidentified gentleman);
Sir John Frenchville Ramsden, 6th Bt. (1877-1958), the grandson of the 12th Duke of Somerset, at Bulstrode Park, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire;
His sale, London, Christie's, 27 May 1932, lot 131, for 52 gns. to Arthurton (as an unidentified gentleman);
Purchased from the above by Maxwell Raison, Esq. (1901-1988);
His sale, London, Sotheby's, 19 July 1985, lot 6, for £28,000 to the present owner (as said to be the Duke of Somerset).