Lot 117: Charles Forrest (fl.1765-1780)

Charles Forrest (fl.1765-1780)
Portrait of Surgeon-General Cunningham, seated by a window
pastel, pen or fine brush and ink heightened with touches of white
23½ x 17½ in. (59.6 x 44.4 cm.)

London, P. and D. Colnaghi, Exhibition of English Drawings and Watercolours, 17 May to 17 June 1972, no. 129.

Crookshank & Glin, The Painters of Ireland, 1978, p. 76, pl. 63.
Crookshank & Glin, The Watercolours of Ireland, 1994, pp. 64-5.

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Charles Forrest was a contemporary of Robert Healy (see lot 118). They were both educated at the Dublin Society Drawing Schools and their work is similar in style.

Forrest executed mainly pastels and chalk drawings, his Dublin theatrical portraits being particularly popular. A set of these portraits are in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland.

The subject of the present drawing, referred to as Surgeon General Cunningham, is probably Alexander Cunningham, a Dublin surgeon. He is depicted in a typical period pose. An anatomy textbook lies open on the table beside him. The intriguing object, which looks like a wrist watch, on his left wrist is probably a miniature. Cunningham held the position of Surgeon-General to the Army in Ireland until 1779. He went on to work at the charitable Meath Hospital in Dublin.

For a pastel of Miss Cunningham, tradionally thought to be his daughter, see lot 118.

This distinctive frame pattern was originally supplied to teh Vanneck family of Heveningham Hall, Suffolk.