Lot 32: Ranelagh Barrett , British d. 1768 Four of sir Robert Walpole's Hounds in a landscape oil on canvas

signed R. Barrett, inscribed after J. Wootton and dated 1744 (lower center) oil on canvas

measurements 60 by 94 in. alternate measurements 152.4 by 238.7 cm

Commissioned by George Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orfort, Houghton Hall, Norfolk
Thence by descent (and sold: Christie's, London, December 8, 1994, lot 136, illustrated)
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, June 7, 2001, lot 490, illustrated

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF MRS. WENDELL CHERRY
This painting after the original version of the same title by John Wootton, is representative of a number of dog portraits and hunting scenes that Wootton painted for Sir Robert Walpole (172-42), first Earl of Oxford, generally regarded as the first British Prime Minister. Although the original version by Wootton has remained untraced since its sale to Catherine the Great of Russia in 1779, several of Wootton's paintings known to have been in Walpole's collection by 1736 survive. Wootton's primary version of the present work hung in the Hunting Hall of Walpole's Houghton Hall, Norfolk and this painting is recorded in the Breakfast Room in the 1792 inventory. A mezzotint engraving of Wootton's original version was published by Richard Earlom in 1780. The inscription in the engraving claims that Wootton's picture hung in the Hunting Hall at Houghton (A. Meyer, John Wootton 1628-1764, London, 1984, pp. 80-1, No. 61).