caption
circle of Jonathan Richardson the Elder, Sir Jonathan Rashleigh
Photo courtesy of Dave Penman (All rights reserved)
Details
- Country House
- Trewithen
- Title(s)
- Sir Jonathan Rashleigh
- Date
- c.1740s
- Medium and support
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Overall height: 174 cm, Overall width: 110 cm
- Artist
- circle of Jonathan Richardson the Elder (1667-1745)
- Catalogue Number
- TN58
Footnotes
-
Sir Lewis Namier and John Brooke, The House of Commons 1754–1790, vol. III: Members K–Y, London: Secker & Warburg, 1985, p. 347.
1
Description
Sir Jonathan Rashleigh (1693–1764) was the brother of Rachel Rashleigh, wife of the Reverend John Hawkins II of Pennans (1691–1736; TN51). Rashleigh was a wealthy merchant and owned considerable property in the borough of Fowey and its neighbourhood (Menabilly is two miles from Fowey) and in Wales and Hampshire. He was a Tory MP for Fowey, sitting in six parliaments without ever having to stand in an election; he never held any office or pension; no speech of his is reported, or any vote. On 23 June 1763 he wrote to his constituents from London: ‘You may depend on my utmost endeavours to get the late cider bill repealed and that nothing but the hand of God shall prevent my close attention for that.’1
Compositionally and in terms of date, the present portrait can be compared with the portrait of Philip Hawkins II by Vanderbank (TN33). Stylistically, however, it is closer to Jonathan Richardson than Vanderbank. On stylistic grounds, and the estimated age of the subject in the portrait, a date of sometime in the 1740s is suggested for this painting.
The inventory of March 1928 located the portrait at that time in the Main Corridor.