National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Arthur Holdsworth Conversing with Thomas Taylor and Captain Stancombe by the River Dart
  • Overview
  • Inscription
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

The British demand for portraiture increased rapidly in the eighteenth century as members of the wealthy middle class became art patrons in their own right. Arthur Devis was a provincial artist who came to live in London, where sophisticated portraitists of the upper class such as Reynolds and Gainsborough dominated the art world. Devis received commissions from the middle-class landowning families, merchants, and officials who lived in smaller cities outside London.

This informal portrait is a conversation piece, a genre favored by Devis. The figures, while full-length, are relatively small and are placed somewhat back in the landscape; the background is larger and more detailed than in traditional portraiture and describes the subjects' personal and social context.

Devis devised a repertoire of postures and gestures that he used to express the social status of his sitter. Arthur Holdsworth, governor of Dartmouth Castle, is shown seated, an alert, attentive expression on his face. The ship sailing into the mouth of the River Dart in the background may be a reference to the Holdsworth family's trading business. Holdsworth's brother-in-law, Thomas Taylor, stands behind him in riding clothes. The third man is Captain Stancombe.

Inscription

lower center: Arth: Devis fe 1757 [the last digit almost illegible]

Marks and Labels

null

Provenance

Painted for Arthur Holdsworth [1733-1777], Mount Gilpin and Widdicombe House, Kingsbridge, Devon; by descent to Captain Frederick Holdsworth; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 22 April 1921, no. 2, bought in); by descent to his sister, Mrs. Cuthbert Lucas; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 6 November 1959, no. 71, repro.); (Thos. Agnew & Sons, London); sold 1960 to Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; gift 1983 to NGA.

Exhibition History

1963
Painting in England 1700-1850, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1963, no. 224, pl. 71.
1980
The Conversation Piece: Arthur Devis & His Contemporaries, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1980, no. 36, repro., (cat. by Ellen G. D'Oench).
1986
Gifts to the Nation: Selected Acquisitions from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1986, unnumbered checklist, repro.

Bibliography

1950
Pavière, Sydney H. The Devis Family of Painters. Leigh-on-Sea, 1950: no. 69.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 130, repro.
1992
Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 61-63, color repro. 62.
1992
National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 143, repro.

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