Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Kinloch Castle Oil Paintings, Watercolours and Prints Part One


TREASURES  OF  KINLOCH  CASTLE 
Researched, written and illustrated by George W. Randall, co-founder in 1996 and former 
Vice-Chairman Kinloch Castle Friends’ Association. 
 
A selection of the vulnerable 300+ Oil Paintings, Watercolours and Prints within  this  late  Victorian  Hunting  Lodge on the  Isle  of  Rum, off Scotland’s West Coast.

PART ONE

Today, at the end of 2023, even greater uncertainty remains as to the future of Kinloch Castle with its contents in-situ.


Three years in the building, 
Sir George Bullough, Bt., (1870-1939), commissioned construction of Kinloch Castle in 1897; its furnishings still include many exquisite Oriental objects d’art collected during his three year long world tour, 1892-1895.
In addition each room contains prints, oil and watercolours as well as personal photographs; in total some three hundred images reflecting not only artistic tastes in the late 
Victorian / Edwardian period but in particular those of Sir George 
and his aristocratic French wife, Lady Monique Lilly Bullough, (1869-1967),  
daughter of Gerard Gustavus Ducarel, 4th Marquis de la Pasture and his wife, Leontine Lilly Standish, 1843-1869, the family at the time 
residing on the Canterbury Plains, near Christchurch, New Zealand.


Sir George and Lady Bullough's Highland home 
remains fully furnished, a unique time capsule of
 a bygone age before the world and society changed forever with the outbreak of 
World War I on the 28th of July 1914.

George Randall first visited Kinloch Castle in 1992 and has returned over thirty times 
during the intervening years, his often fortnightly stays allowing him to build an invaluable collection of interior and external images, including the steadings, gardens and extensive glasshouses  –  the latter now disappeared.

This included photographing and researching every book in the magnificent library and every picture on display, stored or hidden away, regrettably the latter invariably being badly damaged and/or suffering from damp; their historical value unrecognised!

Many, if not all 
can be saved!

Otherwise they could be lost forever   --
consigned to a skip       →     


In this, first of a series of blogs on the photographs and paintings within Kinloch Castle, I will highlight using before and after images plus background research, the consequences of what sixty-five years of indifference and totally failed management have wrought on the pictures in this 
publicly owned Castle purchased with tax-payers' money 
on the 28th of February 1957, the eighty-seventh anniversary 
of the birth of Sir George Bullough, Bt., whose widow sold 
the 40 square mile island, along with Kinloch Castle,
 to the Conservative Government of the day for £23,000, the island to be used in perpetuity as a nature reserve.


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SMALL DOG ABOUT TO STEAL BONE FROM SLEEPING BULLMASTIFF

The engraving, displayed in Hostel Bedroom 11 in April 2009 when the photograph was taken, bears no title or name 
of artist. 

 Glazed, oak frame,
 overall 44 x 28 inches. 
Print size: 24 x 18 inches. 

Label on reverse reads:

“Framed by Arthur Wilson 
Picture Frame Maker Dealer in Works of Art, Artist's Colourman &c.
Old Frames Re-gilded Equal to New. 156A, Blackburn Road, Accrington.”


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PETER PAN 

Photographed in the Manager’s Flat, Kinloch Castle in April 2009 this glazed, gilded ebony framed colour print of Peter Pan measures 7 x 5¾ inches overall.

Seated on a grassy slope in a wood, Peter is playing his pipe to an audience of rabbits.

No artist or description is given, but the work is very similar to illustrations by illustrator Frances Donkin Bedford (1864-1954) in the novel “Peter and Wendy” by Scottish novelist and dramatist 
Sir James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937).

Peter Pan is portrayed as a “mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, spending his never-ending childhood on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with mermaids, Indians, fairies and pirates; from time to time meeting ordinary children from the world outside.


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HARROW SCHOOL (Water damaged)

Sir George Bullough attended Harrow School from March 1884 - March 1887 - 
aged fourteen to  seventeen.

HARROW SCHOOL
Etching by William Monk (1863-1937).

Stored directly on the floor in the Piper’s Room off the gallery in the Great Hall
of Kinloch Castle, this glazed, dark framed picture measures 17 x 12 inches overall,
the print 7½ x 10½ inches.
The photograph was taken in October 2007 when damp conditions had already damaged the left side of the frame (on which it was stored standing) and black mould penetrated the mounting board, particularly visible upper left.

This is one of a series of four works by the English etcher and woodcut engraver 
William Monk depicting Harrow and its public school for boys founded by John Lyon in 1572 under a Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth in Kinloch Castle.
Son of a gunmaker, Monk was born in Chester and educated at the Chester School of Art and Antwerp Academy in Belgium. Aged twenty-one he was an Associate of the Royal Society of Painters-Etchers and Engravers and was elected a full member in 1899. He lived in London from 1892 returning to Chester in 1933 where he died four year later aged seventy-four.
Today his work is very collectable, with examples in the British Museum,
 the Victoria and Albert Museum and Imperial War Museum.

HARROW SCHOOL ROOM
Etching by William Monk 

Framed and glazed etching displayed in Sir George Bullough's bedroom 
in Kinloch Castle. 

HARROW SCHOOL
Etching by William Monk 

A framed and glazed etching displayed in Sir George Bullough's bedroom 
in Kinloch Castle. 

> + <

GEORGE BULLOUGH SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPH
(Water damaged)

A framed and glazed photograph, sadly damp stained, 
of George Bullough and his class at Harrow School. Undated but circa 1886 
when he was sixteen years old.
Frame overall: 18 x 15 inches.    Photograph: 10 x 8 inches.

The reverse bears the label:
"J. Smith, Gilder, Picture-frame Maker, and Mount Cutter, Round Church Street, Cambridge. Old Frames re-gilt equal to new."

*************************************************************

HARROW SCHOOL
DONORUM DEI DISPENSATIO FIDELIS
(The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God.)

Harrow School motto above a lion rampant - the Seal of the School Governors.

Displayed along the Oak Bedroom Corridor,
a 1906 first floor addition to the original completed building.
Photographed in March 2006

       The overall print size is 24 x 20 inches.

It is signed Kennard Kreyer in pencil in the white border lower right:           


The print is undated, however the inclusion of a memorial to the South African War 
1899-1902, better known as the Boer War, and the fact that 
the 2nd of July 1902 was the three hundred and thirtieth anniversary 
of the founding of Harrow School 
would suggest this work was a commemorative issue to those two events and 
nine former pupils who achieved great things in their lifetime. 

During Speech Day on the 2nd of July 1902, 
Field Marshal The Right Honourable
Earl Roberts, V.C., K.G., K.P., G.C.B., O.M., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., 
laid the foundation stone of the Boer War Memorial in the north transept of 
Harrow School Chapel in commemoration of the ultimate sacrifice given by 
fifty-five of the five hundred Harrovians who fought in the thirty-two month long engagement between the British Empire and two Boer states: 
the South African Republic and the Orange Free State.    

ABOVE:  Memorial to the South African War (Boer War) 1899-1902.

 Stepped memorial inscriptions recording land or sea battles of five Harrow students:

     Admiral Sir George Rodney  /
        Lieutenant General Comte de Grass
Battle of Saintes   1782 

Admiral Sir Edward Codrington
Battle of Navarino   1727 

Lieutenant General Earl of Cardigan
Charge of the Light Brigade   1855 

Colonel Frederick Gustavus Burnaby
Battle of Abu Klea   1885 

Major General William Earle   
Battle of Kirbekan   1885

1)  The Battle of Saintes, (so named after a group of islands between Guadeloupe and Dominica in the West Indies), was a three day naval engagement in April 1782, during the American revolutionary war, between British Admiral Sir George Rodney (joint commander with Admiral Samuel Hood) and French Lieutenant General Comte de Grass. The French fleet had been blockading the British Army in Chesapeake Bay during the Siege of Yorktown, although the Saintes engagement resulted in a decisive British victory, the overall result of the revolution was victory to America.

2)  The Battle of Navarino was a one day naval battle fought on the 20th October 1827 during the Greek War of Independence. British Admiral Sir Edward Codrington successfully commanded the naval force, which included vessels of the French and Russian navies, against those of the Ottoman Empire led by General Ibrahim Pasha, later ruler of Egypt and Sudan.

3)  One of, if not the most infamous battle in British history is the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava on Wednesday the 25th of October 1854 in the Crimean War. The Commander-in-Chief of British troops in the Crimea at the time was Field Marshal Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788-1855) whose primary objective was to defend Constantinople, the strategic sea port city between the Black and Mediterranean seas. Lieutenant-General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan (1797-1868) commanded the Light Brigade. Overall command of the cavalry was under Lieutenant-General George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, (1800-1888). Lucan received an ambiguous order from Raglan stating “the cavalry was to advance rapidly to the front, follow the (Russian) enemy, and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns … …” Cardigan led the charge from the front. Despite withering fire from three sides decimating men and horses the Russians were initially forced to abandon their positions; but Cardigan’s charge was not followed up by Lucan and his Heavy Brigade allowing the Russians to return to their guns and open fire on the Light Brigade with grape and canister shot as they withdrew as best each man could. One in six of the 666 who entered what has become known as “the valley of death” were killed with a quarter injured.  

4)  Colonel Frederick Gustavus Burnaby (1842-1885) of the Royal Horse Guards, known as the Blues, was a 6 ft. 4 inches tall army intelligence officer and British national hero renowned for his swashbuckling courage. In the fifteen minute long Battle of Abu Klea (Khartoum), on the 17th of January 1885 between the British Desert Column and forces of Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah, better known as the Mahdi, Colonel Burnaby was killed by a spear to the throat while attempting to rescue an injured colleague. Despite being outnumbered at more than nine to one this hand to hand battle, part of the Mahdist War, resulted in a victory for the United Kingdom. 

A gifted scholar; in 1854, aged only twelve years old, Frederick Burnaby came very close to being expelled from Harrow for “sending a lively article against ‘fagging’, (where young public school boys undertook menial chores for older boys and prefects), to Punch Magazine”. He excelled at sport and was a gifted linguist, including Russian. At sixteen Burnaby passed his examination for the army, the youngest of the 150 candidates. Gazetted a cornet in the 3rd regiment Household Cavalry, he left Harrow in 1859. He was appointed lieutenant in 1861, captain five years later, major in 1879, and lieutenant colonel of the Royal Horse Guards in 1881 until his death in 1885.

5)  Major General William Earle, (1833-1885), left Harrow in 1851 and joined the Hertfordshire based 29th Regiment of Foot. From 1854 he fought in most of the major battles in the Crimean War (1853-1856) his gallantry earning him the English, Sardinia and Turkish medals. Following promotion to colonel in the 1870’s he served in India as military secretary the Viceroy, Lord Northbrook. Promoted Major General in 1880 he was sent to Egypt; within two years he was appointed commander of the garrison at Alexandria. In late 1884, as a member of the Nile Expedition, Earle took command of the column belatedly sent to Khartoum to relieve General George Gordon under siege due to an Islamic rebellion by Sudanese Mahdists. Before he reached Khartoum, news reached Earle the city had been overrun on the 26th of January 1885, Gordon killed and his entire garrison of six thousand being slaughtered. On the 10th of February 1885 Earle’s force of one thousand completely routed nine thousand Mahdist troops in the five hour long Battle of Kirbekan. The British cost, sixty officers and men, including General Earle, all of whom were buried on the field of battle.

                  Stepped inscriptions recording four Governor Generals / Viceroys of India:

Warren Hastings F.R.S., an English statesman, the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William, Calcutta, Bengal; head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and first de facto Governor-General of India from 1774 to 1785.

John Shore 1st Baron Teignmouth was a British official of the East India Company who served as Governor-General of Bengal from 1793 to 1798. In 1798 he was created Baron Teignmouth in the Peerage of Ireland. Shore was the first president of the British and Foreign Bible Society.

James Andrew Broun Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie, K.T., P.C., was a Scottish statesman and colonial administrator in British India. He served as Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856. 

Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, G.C.B., G.C.S.I, G.C.I.E., P.C., was an English statesman, Conservative politician, and poet. He served as Viceroy of India between 1876 and 1880 during his tenure Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India by British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli. Earl Lytton was British Ambassador to France from 1887 to 1891.

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A head and shoulders glazed and framed miniature photograph of Monique Lilly Ducarel 
(Lady Bullough).
Digital Photograph taken November 2011.

Located on the mantel-shelf in Lady Bullough’s drawing room in Kinloch Castle.
Actual photograph measures only 2 x 1¼ inches. 
The broken frame is in two pieces, 
the glass, photograph and backing all loose.

No date or photographer's identification.

Monique Lilly was born in Christchurch, 
New Zealand on the 7th of April 1869. Her mother was Lilly, (née Léontine Standish, born on the 12th of February 1843), Countess de La Pasture, wife of Gerard Gustave Ducarel, 4th Marquis de La Pasture, who inherited the title aged sixteen on the death of his father on the 11th of April 1854. They married on the 4th of July 1864.

Countess de La Pasture died the day following the birth 
of her daughter and is buried in Barbadoes Street Cemetery, Christchurch, South Island New Zealand.
+
(The actual photograph measures 2 x 1¼ inches.)


On the 19th of March 1889 nineteen year old Monique married thirty year old
Charles Edward Nicholas Charrington, they had a daughter, Dorothea Elizabeth Charrington, born in April 1890, and nicknamed, “Pippa”. Sadly the marriage was a failure. Charles Charrington filed for divorce in 1902 citing his wife as respondent and Sir George Bulloughas co-respondent, the proceedings being completed on the 25th May 1903. 
On the 24th of June, 1903, in a “glittering ceremony at Kinloch Castle” Sir George and Monique were married.

On the 5th of November 1906 a daughter, Hermione, their only child was born. Hermione married Anthony Claude Frederick Lambton, 5th Earl of Durham on the 4th of March 1931, they had one son, the Honourable John George Lambton, born in June 1932.
Hermione died in 1990; her son died, unmarried, in August 2012.
Sir George Bullough died while playing golf in France in 1939 aged sixty-nine.

Lady Bullough, as principal beneficiary and trustee of her husband’s estate,
agreed to sell their beloved island of Rum, including fully furnished Kinloch Castle
to the nation on the 28th of February 1957 (the 87th anniversary of Sir George's birthday) 
to be used in perpetuity as a nature reserve and the castle maintained
… … 

Regrettably minimal maintenance, 
invariably far too little, 
far, far too late, 
was ever undertaken, 
and no knowledgeable custodian was ever assigned to care for Kinloch Castle 
and its historically valuable contents.


Lady Bullough died in May 1967 aged ninety-eight, and is interred in the Bullough Mausoleum  (left) at the old township of Harris on the island’s south-west coast, alongside her husband and his father, John, who originally bought Rum in 1888  as a sporting estate.
Wreaths laid at the Bullough Mausoleum, the last resting place of Lady Bullough.
Ownership of the area within the chain link fence remains with the family.  

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A glazed, oval framed miniature photograph of George Bullough on the mantel-shelf  in Lady Bullough's  (extended) drawing room, formerly the Boudoir.

George Bullough, was the eldest son of John and Swiss born Bertha (née Schmidlin) Bullough. He was born on the 28th of February 1870, his younger brother and sister respectively being Edward (March 1880) and Bertha (April 1872). 

Digital Photograph taken November 2011.

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AS FOUND - 
FRAME-LESS, FOLDED, EDGES BADLY DAMAGED
(Digital photographs taken November 2011.
George W. Randall Research and Photographic Archive © )

NORTH AND SOUTH DOME AND STONEMAN HOUSE (roof-line just visible) 
FROM SOUTH WALL, YOSEMITE VALLEY 1894


Digital photographs 
taken November 2011.
George W. Randall Research 
and Photographic Archive ©

These photographs originally taken in 1894 depict Yosemite National Park on the west slope of the central Sierra Nevada Mountains, an area of outstanding scenic beauty which includes one of the world’s highest waterfalls.

With a vertical drop of 2,425 feet, almost half a mile, Yosemite Falls is the tallest waterfall in the United States and the twentieth highest in the world, that being Angel Falls in Canaima National Park, Venezuela,
 at 2,953 feet.

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FOUND STORED STANDING ON FLOOR IN DAMP ROOM

                                                                                                                                                                                                 Photographed March 2006

Appears to be copy of an original work signed (lower right) by J. PEOT, 
with the inscription:
“No. 18 Jack Peot A Tinto Hill” written on the reverse with address label:
 “J. Peot, 13 Hollytown Road, Bellshill” pasted below.

The glazed, gilded frame measures 30¼ x 24½ inches overall 
and is intact and undamaged.
The picture measures: 20½ x 14½ inches.

(Bellshill is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland.)

2,320 feet* in height, the highest hill in Lanarkshire, Tinto Hill
stands on the left bank of the River Clyde.
It is the largest of the small group of hills collectively known as the Tinto Hills or Hills of Fire because of the red felsite rock found at the summit. Red Felsite is a fine grained volcanic rock, which becomes even more strikingly red when wet.
Its decorative appearance makes it ideal for drives, paths and on graves.

* Being between 2,000 and 2,499 feet high with a drop of at least 490 feet all round, 
Tinto Hill fills the criteria for being classed number 77 out of the 219 hills on the 
Graham List of Mountains in Scotland.

*************************************************************
   Mr.  LE PRINCE EUGENE

PHOTOGRAPHED  AS FOUND  
 No identification of artist or engraver.



This glazed, framed picture of Prince Eugene of Savoy is suffering severe black mold and water damage due to being in very wet conditions for a considerable time. 
The engraving itself is heavily water-stained.

Prince Eugene of Savoy was born in Paris on the 18th of October 1663
and grew up around the French court of King Louis XIV.
He is described “as one of the most successful leaders of modern European history”,
rising to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna.
He died in Vienna on the 21st of April 1736.

Detail of battle depicted lower right of engraving.
The Prince successfully engaged in numerous battles.
His final and greatest victory was the Battle of Belgradein (Siege of Belgrade) over nineteen days in July/August 1717 when fifty-four year old Prince Eugene of Savoy 
recaptured the city from the Turks.

A scene from this battle was painted by Johann Gottfried Auerbach
and this background scene could well be taken or based on that work.

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INNOCENCE    
Tito Conti

Photographed as found.
 
The lower area being so damaged by the ravages of damp and mold
as to obliterate title and name of artist.
The glazed, oak frame measures 30½ x 22½ inches overall surrounding a plain, 
narrow gilded fillet or accent strip. The actual print, 21½ x 14½ inches, 
is mounted on white mat board.

Print shops of the Georgian Era to Queen Victoria selling pictures depicting famous people to historical events flourished.

Popular interest and availability rapidly grew following the first issue of Herbert Ingram’s weekly news magazine, 

“The Illustrated London News” 
in May 1842, which included engraved copies of famous works of art and sold for sixpence.*

Victorian homes became decorated with these intaglio works, those depicting the gentleness of female beauties rapidly developing a fondness which grew into 
that of keepsake.”

Such fashionable images created a special period of art which include some of the most outstanding paintings of the time. 

Known for his precise attention to detail the Italian artist Tito Conti is today considered a master amongst the artists of the period.
 “In his elegant ladies and finely dressed maids we are spoilt with the sheer luxury 
with which he decorates the canvas ... (as he) brings each characteur to life.”

* Sixpence was a fortieth of a pound sterling and equates to £1.70 in 2019.
INNOCENCE    (Tito Conti 1842 - 1924)
The lady in Tito Conti's INNOCENCE bears similarity to his 
Terrass med sittande kvinnor above left.
*  *  *  *  *     *   *  *  *  *
 LADY BULLOUGH AND DAUGHTER HERMIONE
(Very badly damaged.)
    
Photographed as found. 
Unframed, large areas, particularly the lower half of the photograph badly stained 
and destroyed by damp.

Originally in a “white and gold” frame  -  the framing instructions are written on the reverse  - 
this beautiful 14 x 11½ inch image 
of Lady Bullough and her daughter, Hermione, would have taken pride 
of place in the family home.

How did it end up in this state? 

Why, having become separated 
from its original frame was it not better cared for, protected, 
best of all  re-framed?

This is amongst, if not because of 
its personal nature, the worst 
example of indifference and 
ignorance  regards the contents of Kinloch Castle; contents signed into the care of  the Nature Conservancy in 1957 by Deed of Acceptance  (today Scottish Natural Heritage funded by the Scottish Government itself funded by tax payers)  -  the gift to be officially known as:

The Sir George Bullough, Baronet, Memorial.

Mounted directly onto card mount the photograph was found, along with others,
stored directly on an attic floor against a dividing wall, although at the time dry,
it clearly has been exposed to damp, humid conditions, even penetrating damp,
ideal conditions for the micro-fungus Stachybotrys chartarun (black mold) 
to become established and do its worst to stored material, 
(particularly paper based) the building itself and pose 
a respiratory threat to humans.


    Hermione Bullough was born on 5 November 1906, 
the only child of Sir George and Lady Bullough.
In this photograph she appears to be about four  years old 
giving it a date of 1910.
 Her mother at that time would have been forty-one years old. 
Lady Bullough.

*  *  *  *  *     *   *  *  *  * 

LADY BULLOUGH
Studio portrait by H. Walter Barnett.
Photographed as found.

Unframed, unprotected, stored directly against other unframed pictures.
A studio portrait of LADY BULLOUGH by H. Walter Barnett.
Card mount measures: 17¾ x 15½ inches   *   Photograph: 11¼ x 9¼ inches.



 LADY BULLOUGH    (Studio Photograph 11¼ x 9¼ inches)

THE PHOTOGRAPHER - HENRY WALTER BARNETT

A prominent portrait photographer, Barnett was born in 1862 in the suburb of St. Kilda, Melbourne, Australia. He left school at the age of thirteen and began his career as an assistant with Robert Stewart and Co., 217 & 219 Bourke Street East, Melbourne’s foremost photographers, miniature and portrait painters.
Aged eighteen he moved to Hobart, Tasmania and started his first commercial venture.
Two years later he realised he needed wider experience and for almost three years travelled the world, working as he went for leading photographers of the day, including Isaiah West Taber in San Francisco, the most successful photographer on America’s west coast. In London, England 
he was on the staff of court photographers. W. and D. Downey and assisted in the sittings for Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII).
In 1885 he returned to Australia opening a studio in Sydney. 
Utilising the skills he had learnt in his travels, including dramatic lighting, 
he was an immediate success.
At age thirty-five Barnett moved to London where he quickly established himself as 
a leading portrait photographer from his studio at 1, Park Side, Hyde Park Corner. 

In 1901 he became a founder member (later vice-president) 
of the Professional Photographers Association and in 1903 was elected to the 
council of the Royal Photographic Society.

In 1920, aged fifty-eight, Barnett sold his London studio and moved to France. 
He died in Nice in January 1934.

*  *  *  *  *     *   *  *  *  * 
 Romney painted Emma on many occasions. 
N A T U R E
Mezzotint by John Raphael Smith
after George Romney

When photographed in March 2006 this print was located in the Sir William Bass Bedroom in Kinloch Castle.

It depicts Emma, Lady Hamilton as Nature, the print itself measures 19½ x 16¾ inches and is in a glazed ebony and gilt frame.

+  *  +  *  +  *  +  *  +  *  +

Emma Lyon was seventeen years old in 1782 when George Romney painted the original oil on canvas of this mezzotint by
John Raphael Smith.
Emma was the mistress of antiquarian and politician Charles Francis Greville (
second son of the Earl of Warwick), who commissioned the portrait, 
one of several by Romney of the beautiful and vivacious daughter of a Cheshire blacksmith who had died when Emma was only two months old.
 Brought up by her mother and maternal grand-mother, 
she went by the name of Emma Hart.
Sir William Hamilton, K.B., P.C., F.R.S., F.R.S.E.
1730-1803. Portrait by David Allan.

Greville educated Emma in music and 
literature and eventually introduced her 
to his uncle, Sir William Hamilton, Privy Councillor and British ambassador to Naples during his visit to Scotland. 
Hamilton, fourth son of the Duke of Hamilton  was an archæologist and vulcanologist, 
and, like Greville, an antiquarian.
Sir William, who was thirty-five years her senior, married Emma in September 1791 
at St. George's, Anglican Church, Hanover Square, London, before returning to Italy.

In August 1793 Hortatio Nelson in command of the 64 gun HMS Agamemnon docked in the 
Bay of Naples to discuss the Anglo-Neapolitan Treaty, an agreement negotiated by Sir William which “maintained the Kingdom of Naples's allegiance during Britain's war against France.” 
Nelson met the King of Naples, Ferdinand IV, and afterwards was introduced to Sir William and Lady Hamilton. It was Nelson's first meeting with Emma.

Following successful talks, 
Nelson set sail in mid-September “in pursuit of the French.”

Painted by George Romney                                                                                     Engraved by John Raphael Smith
                                       Mezzotint Engraver to his Royal
                                                       Highness the Prince of Wales
 NATURE

“Flushed by the spirit of the genial year
Her lips blush deeper sweets, the breath of youth
The shining moisture swells into her eyes
In brighter glow her wishing bosom heaves
With palpitations wild.”

London. Published 19 May 1784 by J. R. Smith, No. 5, Oxford Street.

**  -------------------------------------------- * --------------------------------------------  **
Vice-Admiral of the White 
The Right Honourable 
The Viscount Nelson
Portrait by Lemuel Francis Abbott (1760-1802)

Five years later, August 1798, Nelson arrived again in the Bay of Naples
after defeating the French Fleet at the Battle of the Nile, a major three day naval engagement between the Royal Navy and the navy of the French Republic of Aboukir off the Nile delta 
which dealt a major blow to Napoleon's ambitions in the east.
As Britain’s ambassador to Naples 
Sir William invited Nelson to dine with him and Lady Hamilton. However, severely injured since their previous meeting; he was blinded in his right eye during the Siege of Bastia (Corsica) 
in 1794 after being hit in the face by 
earth and rocks when a shell exploded; plus an amputated right arm, 
lost while leading a landing party 
during a frontal assault on Santa Cruz (Canary Isles) in July 1797; 
Nelson wrote to Emma: “you and Sir William have spoiled me ….. 
I trust my mutilations will not cause me to be less welcome.”

His fears were of no concern to Emma who immediately began working on a fitting welcome for the “Hero of the Nile.” 

Portrait of Emma as Bacchante
in the Greek tragedy by Euripeides
by George Romney.

___________________________
Emma cares for the exhausted, battle-weary Nelson, who is suffering excruciating headaches and has difficulty eating due to the loss of many of his teeth, both the result
 of the shell explosion  during the Siege of Bastia
 four years previously.

For the next few months Emma nursed Nelson back
 to health, at the same time Sir William treated him as a son and friend.

Just before Christmas 1798, with a French invasion imminent, Nelson moved the Hamiltons and the Neapolitan Royal Family to Palermo in Sicily. 
It is believed, despite having married  Frances Nisbet 
(a widow) on the 11th of March 1787 on the Caribbean island of Nevis, Nelson’s affair with Emma began at this time. For eighteen months the three lived in a ménage-à-trois relationship while Nelson’s ships were moored in the bay ready for action.

Sir William retired in early 1800 and in June Nelson received permission to return
 to home due to ill-health. 
All three returned to England where they soon discovered society was far more judgmental. 

Satirists like James Gillray were merciless in their verbal references
and cartoon portrayals of their three way relationship, often depicting the now elderly 
and frail Sir William asleep in the background of their satirical sketches, while portraying the once animated and beautiful  Emma as no longer so and obese.
 Emma was in fact carrying Nelson’s daughter Horatia, 
born on the 29th of January 1801 and christened Horatia Nelson Thompson.

On the 9th of November 1800 Nelson arrived in London where he was given a hero’s welcome. He attended court and was guest of honour at numerous banquets and balls.
 It was during this period Emma and Fanny Nelson met for the first time. 
Nelson’s coldness towards his wife resulted in her issuing an ultimatum; choose her or Emma. Nelson’s replied that although he loved her dearly he could not forget his “obligations to Lady Hamilton or speak of her otherwise than with affection and admiration.” They never lived together again.

Nelson depended upon Emma for love. For the remaining few years of his life,
 (he was killed by a French sniper during the Battle of Trafalgar 
on the 21st of October 1805 aged forty-seven), he lived with Emma and Sir William Hamilton (Sir William died in April 1803 aged seventy-two) 
and their daughter at Merton Place, at the time in county of Surrey.

Much more detail can be found by searching the references below.

References: Encyclopædia Britannica; 
Injuries and Illnesses – Nelson Museum; 
Turning a Blind Eye - Wikipedia; 
History – Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson; 
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson - Wikipedia; 
Merton Parish;
Admiral Lord Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar; 
Horatia Nelson Thompson.

*  *  *  *  *   +   *  *  *  *  * 

Four Oval Portraits of Ladies.


Over the years, like so much of the contents of Kinloch Castle, these four beautiful portraits have been moved from room to room, carelessly handled and stored, 
divided and, fortunately, reunited!

Again, over the years, inventories were commissioned of Castle contents, the earliest of four in the author’s possession being 1978 conducted by Phillips of Edinburgh, Scotland, one of Britain’s leading auction and valuation houses. 
They simply described the two larger portraits (Item 556) as:
 “Two coloured engraved portrait busts of ladies, oval in gilt frames.”

Similarly, Item 557 was listed as:
 “Two coloured engraved portrait busts of ladies. Smaller”. 
All four located in the “Conservatory Bedroom.”

The respective sizes are the larger: frame overall 11 x 9 inches / image 8 x 6½ inches. 
The smaller picture overall 8 x 7½ inches.

Phillips conducted further inventories in 1992 and 1996 in which no specific 
reference is made to these four portraits. However, in both cases,
 on pages 37 and 29 respectively, “A set of thirteen Cries of London 
and five other engravings” are recorded in the “Conservatory Bedroom”.

In 2006, international auctioneers Bonhams, New Bond Street, London, 
conducted an inventory in which again no specific mention is made of the four portraits. Reference is made to  “A set of eight distressed Cries of London engravings”, still in the Conservatory Bedroom.

Eventually the four oval portraits, (plus the “distressed Cries of London” along with many other engravings), were found by the author stored in the roof loft, most frameless, all damaged, many frames rotting and images stained by damp and mold.



As found, the ornate, gilded framed and glazed portraits were badly damaged, 
both prints water stained.      Inventory Item 556.      Overall height 11 x 9 inches.



This portrait is identified as 
“The Fair Student”

from the ebony and gilt framed engraving (left) 
bearing the title:  The Fair Student *
displayed in the Manager’s Flat, Kinloch Castle and
photographed in March 2006 by the author.

(* Note: One of more than two dozen similarly framed
images of paintings or famous people 
around Kinloch Castle.)

The original work is attributed to the 18th century Italian painter and engraver Giovanni Battista Cipriani, R.A., and engraved by fellow Italian engraver, Francesco Bartolozzi, R.A.
It is recorded as being published by W. Allen, Dame Street, Dublin.

*   *   *   *   *    *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Portrait of an Unknown Beauty

The subject of the second of the 
“Two coloured engraved portrait busts of ladies, 
oval in gilt frames”, as recorded in Phillips' 1978 Inventory number 556, 
is so far unidentified.
Clearly based on Cipriani's original there is however no indication who engraved 
the colour versions of either of these two portraits.

***************************************


Respectively titled:  “A St. James’s Beauty” and A St. Giles's Beauty
and inscribed in the white border: J. H. Benwell pinxt    -    F. Bartolozzi sculpt.



As found, the ornate, gilded framed and glazed portraits were badly damaged, 
the right print water stained. (Inventory Item 557.)         
Overall height 8 x 7½ inches.

These two portraits are the original work of John Hedges Benwell,
 born in London in 1764,
each bears his name and that of Francesco Bartolozzi as the engraver.


“A St. James’s Beauty”
Miss Priscilla Burrough


Respectively these Beauties are the third and seventh daughters of James Burrough, 
Lord of the Manor of Alton Priors, County Wiltshire. 
Their mother Elizabeth (nee Smith) descended from the Earls of Huntingdon.


ABOVE: A half-length profile portrait of Miss Priscilla Burrough facing right wearing
 a fine feathered hat, and a string of pearls above her forehead.
Priscilla married married William Brooks, a wine merchant, money lender and founder in 1764 
of the London club that bears his name.

Both portraits are the original work of John Hodges Benwell, this print published by Emmanuel Matthias Diemar in 1783 executed by Francesco Bartolozzi.

A St. Giles's Beauty
Miss Elizabeth Burrough




ABOVE: A half-length profile portrait of 
Miss Elizabeth Burrough
facing left wearing  a white lace bonnet 
with satin ribbon and a red shawl over a low blue dress with white fichu  -  
a loosely draped neck-cloth tied in a knot to the front giving a poutier pigeon effect.
Elizabeth married a solicitor.

The Kinloch Castle portrait is heavily water stained additionally causing a significant loss of colour.

The engraver Francesco Bartolozzi was 
born in Florence in 1727 and died
 in Lisbon in 1815.
The original artist, John Hodges Benwell was born in 1764 at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, his father was butler to George Spencer, fourth Duke of Marlborough, great, great, great grandfather of Sir Winston Churchill.

Benwell died of tuberculosis in London in 1785 aged twenty-one.


                                                                    
***   ***   ***   ***   ***   ***   ***   ***   *** 

THE HONOURABLE LADY HOWARD 
As foundTHE HONOURABLE LADY HOWARD

Mezzotint by John Smith (fecit. exc.)  after Sir Godfrey Kneller (Eques pinx.)

The ebony and gilded frame, which measures 24 x 18½ inches overall,  
has been very badly damaged and almost destroyed by having stood in water. 
The lower half of the 16½ x 10¼ inch print is suffering water staining, 
the matboard likewise plus mold discolouration.


Anabella Lady Howard, was the fourth wife of English playwright and Whig politician Sir Robert Howard, (1626 – 1698), a great grandson of Henry Howard, 
Earl of Surrey.
Sir Robert was sixty-seven years old when he married eighteen year old Anabella Dyve, formerly Maid of Honour to Princess (later Queen) Anne in 1692.
Dated 1697 depicts Lady Howard aged twenty-three years old.

In Howard’s Will dated the 26th of May 1697 he made Anabella his sole executor
and beneficiary of all his possessions. His forty-seven year old only surviving son, 
Thomas Howard, M.P., Teller of the Receipt of the Exchequer, inherited his father’s estate, Ashtead Manor in Surrey, purchased in 1680 from Henry Howard, 
7th Duke of Norfolk.
 Following her husband’s death Anabella married the Reverend Edmund Martin.

* * * * *     * * * * *     * * * * *

SENSIBILITY
Emma, Lady Hamilton

This photogravure from the engraving by Richard Earlom after George Romney is displayed in Lady Bullough's Drawing Room at Kinloch Castle.

There is slight foxing affecting the matboard because of high humidity and fluctuating heat.

George Romney's work was reproduced by many engravers with and without the verse.
It was also copied as a colour stipple engraving and etched with hand colouring.

The figure is of Emma, Lady Hamilton, 
facing right, in an open neck, sleeveless full length robe, a long shawl flowing out behind over her left shoulder.
A banded scarf, the crown entwined with snowdrops, is wound over her head and under her chin. She stands her back against a tree, her right knee resting against the edge of a stone pedestal on which her left knee takes her weight as she leans forward  her left hand palm fully exposed,
fingers outstretch, she reaches towards a slender Mimosa pudica plant in a 
Grecian amphoræ which sits on the pedestal set against a rolling landscape 
with single tree as background.
With eyes intent, lips slightly parted, her posture fully engaged on the slender plant 
before her,  Emma portrays the “attitude” of Sensibility, 
just one of her many tableaux vivianites, static classical poses originally captured by George Romney and here engraved by Richard Earlom.  

Painted by George Romney                     Engraved by Rd. Earlom.
S E N S I B I L I T Y
From the Original Picture in the Possession of William Hayley, Esqr.

The leaves, as conscious of their Queen’s command.
Successive fall at her approaching hand;
While her soft breast with pity seems to pant,
And shrinks at every shrinking of the plant.
                                                                   Triumphs of Temper. Canto V. Verse 272

Published March 25th 1789 by John & Josiah Boydell. No. 90 Cheapside, London.

(NOTE: Triumphs of Temper, written in 1781, is a poem in six Cantos by 
poet and biographer William Hayley, Esq., 1745 - 1820. Hayley wrote "Life of Romney".)

Triumphs of Temper Canto 5 Verse 272
The engraver, Richard Earlom, 
was born in London in 1743 and studied under Royal Academician Giovanni Capriani, exhibiting great skill as a draughtsman. 
Aged twenty-two he was employed by publisher John Boydell, noted for his reproductions of engravings and work of up 
and coming artists. Boydell commissioned Earlom to produce a series of drawings 
from the pictures at Houghton Hall, 
Norfolk, which he engraved in mezzotint. 
In 1774 the first copies by Earlom of the 
two hundred drawings of the French painter, Claude Lorraine, were published by Boydell
 as Liber Veritatis. Reproduced 
“in the Manner and Taste of the (original) Drawings” Earlom’s prints were so successful they were reprinted, reworked 
and recommended by teachers as examples for students to copy. 
Richard Earlom died in 1822 aged seventy-nine.

                                                                ************
“Owner of the original picture, William Hayley” was born in Chichester, England, November 1745 and educated at Eton and Trinity Hall Cambridge. 
A renowned English writer, he is best remembered for his biographies of poet 
and hymnodist William Cowper (1803) and artist George Romney, written in 1809.  
A man of private means, from 1774 he lived on his Eartham estate in Sussex, 
inherited from his father.
Hayley died in 1820, three days after his 75th birthday.

************ 
The original artist George Romney, born in 1734 was an English portrait painter who became the most fashionable artist of the day.  This work, Sensibilityis one of his many portraits of Emma, Lady Hamilton; as his muse, she was his source of artistic inspiration as she performed her “Attitudes”, portrayals of classical scenes from sculpture and paintings. Romney died in 1802. 

* * * * *     * * * * *     * * * * *
EMMA, LADY HAMILTON AS THALIA, THE MUSE OF COMEDY
titled:-

QUAM  VETERES  GRAŸ  PULCHRAM  ESFINXERE  THALIAM 
 ESFICTA EST  NOSTRO  PULCHRIOR  IN  LATIO

Engraving by Raffaello Sanzio Morghen (1758 - 1833)
after Angelica Kauffman (1741 - 1897)


Displayed in Lady Bullough's Drawing Room in Kinloch Castle the picture 
is suffering extensively from foxing brought about by damp and high humidity ... ...



Portrait of Emma, Lady Hamilton as the Comic Muse Thalia, 
eighth of the nine daughters of Zeus, king of the gods, and Mnemosyne, 
goddess of memory, in Greek mythology.

Photographed in March 2006

Lady Hamilton was painted in a wide range 
of roles, many of which were inspired by her husband’s collection of antiquities.
In this engraving by Raphael Morghen, (Raffaello Sanzio Morghen),  after the original work by Angelica Kauffman, Emma is portrayed standing, 
three-quarter turned to
front, holding a curtain aside with her left hand whilst with her right hand, she holds aloft a dramatic comic mask crowned with ivy leaves. She wears a low neck white gown with a voluminous scarf over her right shoulder, her dark hair falling in tight ringlet curls over her shoulders and a broad belt with profile head and neck cameo of  her husband, Sir William Hamilton.


The original artist, Angelica Kauffmann was born in Switzerland in 1741.
A child prodigy, influenced by the fashionable Neo-classical style encountered in Italy,
 she specialised in historical and portrait painting becoming a member at twenty-three 
of the Roman Accademia di San Luca founded in 1577. 
(Frontispiece from: "Memoires de le Lady Hamilton"
 published Paris 1816)

Lady Hamilton painted at the age
of 30 years
by the famous Romney.
(That was in 1795)
Kauffmann arrived in London in the middle of 1766 staying for fifteen years; two years later she was a founder member of the Royal Academy of Arts. Her patrons included King George III, Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich and Prince Nikolay Yusupov of Russia, Emperor Joseph II of Austria and Queen Caroline of Naples; most likely through the latter becoming acquainted with Lady Hamilton, her portrait of Emma as Thalia being dated 1791. when Emma was twenty-six years old.
-------------------------------------------

NOTE: There is great similarity between the head 
and shoulders of Lady Hamilton by George Romney (right) “aged 30” (in 1795) as depicted in the frontispiece to her book, “Memoirs de le Lady Hamilton” 
and Raffaello Morghen’s engraving (dated 1797) 
after Angelica Kauffmann’s work reputedly 
completed in 1791.

-----------------------------------------------------------

 The engraver, Raffaello Sanzio Morghen was born in Naples in 1758 and today is recognised at one of the greatest engravers of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.  By the tender age of twelve he had published his first engravings.
His first teacher was his father, Filippo Morghen (1730-1807), a leading engraver in his own right. However, quickly recognising the talent of his son Filippo sent Raffaello as a pupil of the Italian master, Giovanni Volpato, in order to obtain more advanced training. 
Raffaello assisted Volpato in engraving pictures by Raphael (1483-1520) in the Vatican, 
in particular the “Miracle of Bolsena Frescoes.”
By 1778 Raffaello was already established as one of Europe’s leading engravers, 
regularly receiving commissions for his beautifully detailed portraits 
and religious and mythological images.
In 1781 Raffaello married Domencia Volpato, daughter of his former teacher.
 In 1793 he was appointed Professor of Engraving at the academy in Florence.
During his career he produced over two hundred and fifty original engravings, 
one of his most famous Raphael’s “Transfiguration”.

Raffaello Morghen died in Florence in 1833 in his seventy-fifth year.


* * * * *     * *     *     * *     * * * * *
GEORGE W. RANDALL 
RESEARCH AND PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE


DON'T LET THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER BEEN TO KINLOCH CASTLE, OR HAVE, BUT FAIL TO SEE THE    HERITAGE, RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL POTENTIAL, PLUS  JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN ORDER TO CREATE
 A VIBRANT COMMUNITY FOR THE FUTURE.

DO NOT RELY ON MINORITY OPINION OR 
"DESK-TOP ANALYSIS". 


UPDATED 27 DECEMBER 2023


The Rose of Scotland.