caption
English School, Captain Christopher Gunman
Photo courtesy of Dave Penman (All rights reserved)
Details
- Country House
- Doddington Hall
- Title(s)
- Captain Christopher Gunman
- Date
- c.1670–5
- Location
- Stairs Leading To Second Floor And Landing
- Medium and support
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Overall height: 140 cm, Overall width: 100 cm
- Artist
- English School
- Catalogue Number
- DN66
Bibliography
R.E.G. Cole, History of Doddington, otherwise Doddington-Pigot, in the County of Lincoln, and its successive owners, with pedigrees, Lincoln : James Williamson, 1897, p. 224
Description
Christopher Gunman (1634–1685) was born in Dramm, Norway, on 17 May 1634. An officer in the British Royal Navy, in May 1663 Gunman was appointed master of the Oxford and, in December, of Bonaventure. He was subsequently commanding officer of the Orange, Reserve, Forrester, Anne and Mary, as well as lieutenant of Prince. Gunman died of gangrene in Calais on 25 March 1685. James Gunman (1747–1824), who married Edward Delaval’s daughter, Sarah (13 April 1805), was the great grandson of Christopher Gunman, and presumably inherited the family portraits and naval pictures at Doddington. For a history of the Gunman family see the website The Dover Historian.1
Oliver Millar, who inspected the portrait at Doddington in 1952 observed, ‘Captain Christopher Gunman: very weak ¾ length lol. Front, c.1670: r. hand on cannon, his ship in a seascape lol’.2