| Method | Mezzotint |
| Artist | Thomas Watson after David Martin |
| Published | [London, Publish'd Jan.y 1st. 1778, for T: Watson, No. 142, New Bond Street.] |
| Dimensions | Image 583 x 425 mm, Plate 615 x 425 mm, Sheet 660 x 470 mm |
| Notes |
A proof impression, full length portrait of Henry Earl Bathurst, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. Bathurst is seen standing, turned slightly to the left. Looking straight forward, Bathurst is wearing a wig and official robes of office. He is holding a purse in his right hand which is lying with a mace on the table to the left. In the background is the interior of a grand building with large columns and archways. Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst (1714 – 1794), known as The Lord Apsley from 1771 to 1775, was a British lawyer and politician. He was Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain from 1771 to 1778. Bathurst was the eldest son of Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst, and his wife Catherine (née Apsley). Educated at Balliol College, Oxford, he was called to the bar, Lincoln's Inn, in 1736. He practised on the Oxford circuit and became a King's Counsel in 1745 after several years sitting in King's Bench. David Martin (1737 – 1797) was a Scottish artist most famed for his portraits. Martin was born in Anstruther, Fife, the son of a schoolmaster. He trained under Allan Ramsay, working in his fellow Scot's London studio from about 1752. In 1755 he joined Ramsay in Rome and probably returned with him to London in 1757, working as his chief assistant, producing copies of state portraits. He settled in Edinburgh in the mid 1780s where his successful portrait practice functioned as a key link between his master, Ramsay, and Henry Raeburn. One of Martin's earliest independent works is a portrait of Benjamin Franklin (1767), which now hangs in The White House, Washington. Thomas Watson (1743 - 1781) was a mezzotinter, who died at the young age of 38. His father of the same name was a printseller at 33 Strand, and survived his son. From 1771-1779 the son was in partnership with Walter Shropshire and he then took over the business in partnership with William Dickinson. In 1786 Strutt stated that the father had his son's copper plates and sold the greater part of his son's work through sales in 1784 (Christie's 29 March and 7 May 1784) and 1792 (25 January, of the copper plates). Ex. Col.: Hon. Christopher Lennox-Boyd Lennox-Boyd i/iii, Chaloner Smith 1883 4. i/iii, Goodwin 31. i/iii Condition: Titled in ink below plate, toning and foxing to sheet, crease to bottom right corner. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £500.00 |
| Stock ID | 48548 |