After Hugh Douglas Hamilton, RHA,
 
Irish c.1740-1808-
 
Portrait of the Rt...

After Hugh Douglas Hamilton, RHA,

Irish c.1740-1808-

Portrait of the Rt Hon. David La Touche of Marlay, Dublin (1734-1806), bust-length, in a blue coat with a red collar and white stock;

pastel and bodycolour on paper watermarked '1803', oval, bears inscription 'by Hugh Hamilton / Member of the De La Touche family' on the backing paper, 28.4 x 22 cm.

Provenance: Anon. sale, Christie's, London, 2 April 1954, lot 10 (as 'H.D. Hamilton, R.H.A.'), sold for £3. 3 shillings.; Anon. sale, Christie's, London, 20 December 1962, lot 44 (as 'Hugh Douglas Hamilton, R.H.A.).; Private Collection, UK.

Note: A near contemporary copy by an unknown hand after Hugh Douglas Hamiltons original composition - see Christie's, London, 10 July 2014, lot 192, which is included in Neil Jeffares, 'Dictionary of Pastellists before 1800', online edition, J.375.1559 (http://www.pastellists.com/Articles/Hamilton1.pdf).

The La Touches, of French Huguenot origin, were one of the most important families in Irish Georgian society and were prominent landowners, bankers and patrons of the arts. In 1762, David (the third David of the La Touche dynasty) married Elizabeth, daughter of Rt Rev. Dr George Marlay, Bishop of Dromore. He later purchased a 300 acre estate in Rathfarnham, Dublin. He had a distinguished career in the Irish Parliament representing banking interests, and in 1783 was nominated as the first Governor of the Bank of Ireland and was also elected to the Privy Council of Ireland.

Hugh Douglas Hamilton had a long association with the La Touche family; Neil Jeffares lists over a dozen known portraits of various generations (see N. Jeffares, Hugh Douglas Hamilton', Online Dictionary of Pastellists before 1800, pp.1-2.). The family were linked to the Dublin Society Drawing School and it was probably here that they first met Hamilton as a young artist. The earliest known portrait of a member of the La Touche family by Hamilton is of the present sitter, dating to c.1765 (National Gallery of Ireland, no.7237). Hamilton executed several other portraits of David La Touche including another oval pastel which is similar to the present work (see Sothebys, London, 14 July 1988, lot 61) and a later full-length portrait in oil, c.1802-3 (Bank of Ireland). We are grateful to Neil Jeffares for his assistance with this catalogue note.