Garret Morphey (d.1716) Portrait of the Playwright, William Congreve (1670-1729) Reclining in a Landscpe Oil on canvas, oval, 57 x 60cm Inscribed on the book below the sitter '96 SP...' Literature: Anne Crookshank and Desmond FitzGerald, Knight of Glin, The Painters of Ireland (London, 1978) p. 24 and p. 287, n. 27 Jane Fenlon, 'Garret Morphey and his Circle', Irish Arts Review Yearbook (1991-92) p. 141, no. 4 Anne Crookshank and Desmond FitzGerald, Knight of Glin, Ireland's Painters (New Haven and London, 2002) p. 16 Comparative Illustration: John Smith, after Sir Godfrey Kneller, Portrait of William Congreve 1670-1729 Although it has long been familiar to scholars from an old black and while illustration - and has been included in Morphey's oeuvre since it was first subject to scholarly scrutiny - the location of this picture has been unknown for many years, and, given the importance of both sitter and artist, its re-emergence from a private collection is much to be welcomed. Although having lost its attribution to Morphey, it was correctly identified as a portrait of the great Restoration playwright William Congreve (1670-1729) at least as far back as 1896 when it was sold at auction in Cologne. This long-standing identification can be confirmed by comparison with the known iconography of Congreve, who was most famously depicted by Sir Godfrey Kneller in the Kit-Kat portrait (1709, National Portrait Gallery), a version of which is in the National Gallery of Ireland (fig). Born in Yorkshire, Congreve grew up in Youghal, County Cork, and after Kilkenny School entered Trinity College, Dublin - at both institutions Jonathan Swift was a slightly older contemporary and the two became life-long friends. Absorbing a passion for the theatre in Dublin's Smock Alley, Congreve took the London stage by storm from shortly after his arrival in the metropolis. In quick succession he composed five sparkling plays (all by the age of thirty), notably Love for Love (1695) and The Way of the World (1700), after which he abruptly laid down his pen for good. Often said to be exceeded in comedic wit by only Oscar Wilde, Congreve greatly excels the later Trinity alumnus in his ruthless examination of human motivation and piercing dissection of the battle of the sexes, as evinced in his most famous couplet: 'Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned / Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned' (The Mourning Bride (1697). A committed Whig, Congreve enjoyed modest political patronage, but as a member of the Kit-Cat Club was an associate of the greatest political and literary figures of the land. Later in life, Congreve enjoyed a passionate relationship with Henrietta, Duchess of Marlborough (in her own right) the wife of his colleague in the club, the Earl of Godolphin. Together they had a daughter, Mary, who took Godolphin's name; Congreve left Henrietta the bulk of his fortune, while she erected a monument in Westminster Abbey on his death at the age of fifty-nine. The present picture was the subject of correspondence between the Knight of Glin, Professor Crookshank and W. L. Van der Watering of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague, in November 1973 which confirmed its further provenance to a sale in Frankfurt in 1935. In the 1970s, Anne Crookshank and the Knight of Glin correctly identified its author as Garret Morphey, re-confirmed the sitter as Congreve and subsequently published the painting in both of their major studies of Irish art. Jane Fenlon lists it as No. 4 in her catalogue of Morpehy's oeuvre. Two directly comparable works by Morphey show, firstly, John Bellew, 1st Baron Bellew (or a member of his family) (Fenlon, No. 1, private collection) and, secondly, James Bryan of Jenkinstown Park, Ballyragget, County Kilkenny (Sold Sotheby's 2 June 1995, lot 204, where purchased by the National Gallery of Ireland). The NGI picture is on panel and its severely compromised condition renders problematic any assessment of its autograph status. It is telling that all three male portraits are of Irish sitters or sitters with strong Irish connections, and, though Morphey's chronology is still far from certain, it seems reasonable to suggest that all three were painted in Ireland. After leaving Trinity, Congreve visited Ireland several times in the 1690s, during which period his father acted as agent of the Earl of Burlington at Lismore Castle. He was in Dublin for example in 1696, when he was awarded an MA by Trinity College. Equally, however, Morphey and Congreve could have encountered each other in England. All three reclining male portraits themselves depend ultimately on Morphey's signed portrait of the Countess of Kingston-upon-Hull (Fenlon, No. 27, private collection). And it is possible that it was through the Pierrepoint family (earls and, later, dukes of Kingston-upon-Hull) that Morphey and Congreve met. There were close connections between these patrons of the Irish artist. The Countess's brother-in-law, the 5th Earl, was a fellow member of the Kit-Kat Club, and his daughter, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, (later the great traveller to the East) developed something of an infatuation with the playwright. Though closest to the two portraits of reclining gentlemen, details in the present work are also comparable to more orthodox works by Morphey, notably qualities highlighted by Dr Fenlon: the 'softness in the painting of wigs and hair', the artist's 'love of texture' and the 'glistening, rather moist, mouths and eyes'. A technical examination has shown how the painting closely accords with the manner in which, at the stage in his career, Morpehy applied pigment to canvas in discrete areas - a method at once loose and schematic: 'I lay the patches of colouring one of the other so I have no more to do, but give them a little together so the work is done'. Although highly distinctive and immediately recognizable as relating to the known works in Morphey's oeuvre, the pose here is ultimately derived from the Elizabethan iconography of Melancholia, exemplified most famously in Isaac Oliver's portrait of Edward, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury. The similarities with Oliver's work extend not just to a shared pose, but to the elegant insouciance of their respective sitters. A further aspect of the portrait though has not been commented on. Crookshank and Glin intuitively characterize the pictures background as 'romantic'. It differs from the Bellew and Bryan portraits in showing the sitter with a book rather than a pet dog. This may refer to the persistent tradition of Congreve composing his plays outdoors: the first draft of the Old Batchelor, for example, is said to have been written under one of the old oaks at Stretton Manor, Staffordshire, his grandfather's house. Dr Johnson and Boswell, meanwhile, on a visit to Dovedale in the mountains of Derbyshire were shown a rocky ledge way where he composed his verses. The inscription with which it opens 'SP 96', has so far resisted satisfactory interpretation. It may refer to one of his writings or have a more personal resonance. We are grateful to The Irish Art Research Centre (TRIARC), at Trinity College, Dublin for kind assistance in preparing this catalogue entry 1. Sale in Cologne, 15-17 June 1896, photograph of the present picture as illustrated in the sale catalogue can be found in Morphey File, Crookshank / Glin Archive, TRIARC, TCD. 2. Hahn, 15-17 Feb, 1935, lot 31. Morphey File, Crookshank / Glin Archive, TRIARC, TCD. 3. Anne Crookshank and Desmond FitzGerald, Knight of Glin, The Painters of Ireland (London 1978) p. 24 and p. 287 n. 27; and Ireland's Painters (New Haven and London 2002) p. 16. 4. Jane Fenlon, 'Garret Morphey and his Circle', Irish Arts Review Yearbook, 1991-92, p. 141, no. 4. 5. J.C. Hodges, William Congreve, the Man (Oxford. 1941) p. 57. 6. Fenlon, 'Garret Morphey', p. 136. 7. Quoted Crookshank and Glin, Ireland's Painters, p. 16. 8. Crookshank and Glin, Painters of Ireland, p. 24. 9. Hodges, William Congreve, pp. 30 & 36.
