Images(2)

Miniature Portrait of John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore (1730 or 1732-1809)

Date1809-1830

MediumWatercolor on ivory

DimensionsPrimary support: 3 5/8 x 2 13/16in. (9.2 x 7.1cm); Sight: 3 1/2 x 2 3/4in. (8.9 x 7cm); and Framed: 8 1/2 x 7 7/16in. (21.6 x 18.9cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2003-58

DescriptionA 3/4-length portrait of a blue-eyed, stocky, elderly man, half turned to the right and sitting slumped in a solid-back, Gothic-style, solid-arm chair; the front stiles are in the form of engaged columns; the chair bears an earl's coronet on its crest, with the letter "D" just below it. It is not upholstered. The man is bald on the top of his head, with ear-length white hair curled under at the sides. He wears a white shirt under a green, blue, and black belted plaid; the tops of his plaid, calf-length hose are visible. Both hands rest on the chair's arms. The near (proper right) hand is curled in a near-fist, the fingers of the far (proper left) hand more open. On a draped table behind the subject at right is a rounded black (or possibly blue-painted) leather bonnet having a furry (probably black bearskin) strip over the top, a black cockade, two black plumes, a red feather, and a red-and-white checked band.
A (seemingly generic) escutcheon hangs on the wall above the bonnet, and a series of pointed Gothic arches can be seen in the background beyond the seated subject.
The image is set in a flat, japanned, papier mache frame set with gilded copper-alloy mounts consisting of an earl's coronet at the top, above the image, and an elaborate revival late Baroque style frame with a gilded "sanded" liner and a "D" in a medallion at the top. N. B. Miniature specialist Richard Allen has identified this frame as having been fabricated at "Hatfields of London."

Label TextImages of John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, are rare. A full-length oil portrait painted in 1765 by Sir Joshua Reynolds (and now owned by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery) remains the best known likeness of the last royal governor of the colony of Virginia.
CWF's miniature and two others (compositionally virtually identical to it) are known, one of them being CWF accession number 2003-61. These are the only non-Reynolds depictions of the 4th Earl recorded to date. Probably one of CWF's miniatures was the original from which multiples were later derived --- but which is uncertain. The more painstaking craftsmanship of 2003-58 suggests that it was the original. Yet the lengthier, more detailed inscription on the reverse of 2003-61 argues for its having been the predecessor. (That inscription indicates that the original image was created in February 1809--the very month that Dunmore died near Ramsgate, Isle of Thanet, Kent, England).

InscribedAt the top of the dust cover sealing the back of the frame, in ink in script, is, "John Murray Earl of Dunmore/at the age of 100" [sic]. Between these two lines of handwritten script, on the rearmost dust cover that supports the first line of handwritten script, is a remannt of a press-printed label reading, " . . . UNCATUR . . .RA[M?]E". The "C" has a rounded back, suggesting that it is not an "F."

On a sheet of cardstock "filler" within the frame is written in script in pencil, "John Murray/Earl of Dunmore" ; on the other side of the same support are pencil doodlings that, however, do not appear to relate to the composition on ivory.

A cast metal "D" in script appears in a medallion on the frame.
ProvenanceYoung (CWF's vendor), an antiques dealer specializing in miniatures, says he acquired this portrait from London dealer David Lavender. Lavender has not responded to queries directly but reportedly acquired the miniature from "a gentleman in Montrose" who, he claimed, had acquired it about forty years earlier from a Murray family member. (Telephone message left by Teresa Newman on behalf of Young on 6/18/2003).