English 18th Century Portrait Sculpture: Bust of Lord Orkney

Field Marshall George Hamilton,

First Earl of Orkney (1666 - 1737).

Michael Rysbrack.

Unsigned.
Dated 1735.

This entry updated 2 July 2019.

Orkney commanded an infantry regiment during the 1689-1690 Irish War between the forces of William III and the deposed King, James II.

He served with distinction at the battles of the Boyne and Aughrim, and at the sieges of Athlone and Limerick, and went on to fight on the continent in the Nine Years’ War (1689–1697), being wounded at the Siege of Namur (1695).

Orkney commanded an infantry brigade at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. In the closing stages of the battle he persuaded the French garrison at Blenheim village to surrender, thereby making a significant contribution to the scale of the Allied victory.

He served throughout the rest of the War of the Spanish Succession (1702–1713), playing an important part in all the major battles in Flanders. In 1714 he became Governor of Virginia and, in 1736, he was appointed the first Field Marshal in the British Army.

Photographs by David Bridgwater

Victoria and Albert Museum.

Literature.

For excellent in depth study into the subject of this and other similar Rysbrack busts see -

D. Wilson, 'The British Augustan oligarchy in portraiture: Michael Rysbrack and his bust of the Earl of Orkney,' The British Art Journal, vol. 11, no. 2, 2010/2011, pp. 43-61;

D. Wilson, ‘Michael Rysbrack’s Antique Head on Modern Shoulders’, The Georgian Group Journal, Vol. XXI [2013], pp. 15-29, at pp. 19-20.

For the excellent Sotheby's Catalogue entry written by the estimable Katherine Eustace see -

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.411.html/2015/old-master-sculpture-art-l15233

Provenance -

Almost certainly George Hamilton, 1^st Earl of Orkney, and by descent;
Arthur Oliver Villiers Russell, 2nd Baron Ampthill, Viceroy of India and Margaret Russell (née Lygon), Baroness Ampthill, Oakley House, Bedfordshire, until circa 1935;
with Ron Green Antiques, Towcester, Northamptonshire, circa 1955;
with John Teed, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, by 1956;
Denys Sutton, London, acquired between 1957 and 1959, until 1991;
Sotheby's New York, 29-30 January 2009, lot 339.

Private Collection, London.

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Orkney Houses - Taplow Court and Cliveden

Town house in Albermarle Street.

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Field Marshall George Hamilton,

First Earl of Orkney (1666 - 1737).

Anonymous

Oil on canvas

Measurements: 214.00 x 144.80 cm

(framed: 238.76 x 170.18 x 5.08 cm)

National Galleries of Scotland

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Field Marshall George Hamilton,

First Earl of Orkney (1666 - 1737).

20.40 x 12.00 cm;
Platemark: 10.20 x 9.50 cm.

Image courtesy National Galleries of Scotland

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Lo res photograph of the Earl of Orkney

Martin Mangaud.

c.1724.

Oil on canvas.

126 x W 101.3 cm.

Accession number

NAM. 1961-08-27

Purchased from S. T. Dent, 1961.

National Army Museum.

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Earl of Orkney

Martin Maingaud

127 x 102 cms.

Provenance - Collection of George Hamilton, Earl of Orkney (1666-1737) Field Marshal;

by descent to [the sitter's son-in-law] William McWilliam O'Brien, 4th Earl of Inchiquin (1700-1777);

Sold through Christie's, London, on 4 June 1976 (Lot 168); with dealer Roy Miles; from whom purchased by the Department of the Environment in July 1977.

Government Art Collection.

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