One of two views of Seaton Delaval, Northumberland (DN80 and DN81), which have been attributed to Edward Hussey Delaval (1729–1814). As Cole noted in the nineteenth century, Edward Delaval was ‘skilled in painting, and a pair of pictures of Seaton Delaval painted by him were left by Mrs Delaval’s will to his nephew, the Earl of Mexborough’ (Cole, 1897, p. 189). Cole also stated that Mrs Delaval, Edward Delaval’s widow, left all her possessions to her daughter’s close friend George Ralph Payne Jarvis, on condition that they should be removed to Doddington Hall, which Jarvis had inherited¹. Among the exceptions were the two views of Seaton Delaval painted by Edward Delaval ‘and his brother’, which she left to her nephew, Sir Jacob Astley, who inherited Seaton Delaval. Cole does not, however, specify which of Edward’s brothers was also involved in the composition.

At Seaton Delaval, formerly belonging to Astley’s descendants, are two large views similar to the present paintings, depicting the south and north fronts of Seaton Delaval.² These views are almost certainly the pendant views commissioned from Arthur Pond by Edward Delaval’s father, Captain Francis Blake Delaval, in 1745 for £52 10s.³ The present views may therefore be the views referred to by Cole as painted by Edward Delaval, although when and how they came to be at Doddington is uncertain.