Lot 1636: CIRCLE OF SIR MARTIN ARCHER SHEE, PRA (1769-1850)

CIRCLE OF SIR MARTIN ARCHER SHEE, PRA (1769-1850) PORTRAIT OF DR. THOMAS MONRO (1759-1833), PHYSICIAN AND PATRON OF THE ARTS Depicted half length in academic robes, oil on canvas 75 x 63cm. monro was educated at Harrow and Oxford and became a sufficiently distinguished physician (specialising in the treatment of insanity) to be summoned by the court of King George III. However, he is best known for his patronage of some of the most distinguished watercolour artists of the era. At his "Academy", first in London then at Leatherhead and Bushey, he invited Girtin, Turner, Cotman, Varley, de Wint, Linnell and Francia amongst many others to study and copy his own pictures by other watercolourists and Canaletto, Rembrandt and Gainsborough. this convivial atmosphere of young and enthusiastic artists, sharing a good dinner and discussing art, defined and nurtured some of the greatest talent of the age. Monro's own works (or "imaginings") were contrived essays in th epicturesque but his influence on the course of watercolour drawing in th e1795-1820 period cannot be over-estimated. few portraits of Monro are believed to exist and The National Portrait Gallery has only a pencil sketch by Thomas's son, Henry (1791-1814) of approximately th esame period as this painting (c.1810). A tentative attribution to Henry Monro deserves consideration. In his diary of February 28th 1811 Henry notes that "[I] drew my father as large as nature in his Doctor's Gown." Dr F. J. G. Jefferiss, a descendant of the artist, informed our vendor in April 1989 that Henry produced "several portraits" of his father. An old attribution to J. P. Legeyt on a plaque on the frame is probably misleading: Alexander Monro's daughter married the Rev. Le Geyt and had a daughter, May, who died in the early 1900's. ++ Lined; extensive craquelure; retouched tear on chin; scattered retouching; break in canvas upper left