Lot 97: Henry Jones Thaddeus RHA (1859-1924) River

Henry Jones Thaddeus RHA (1859-1924) River Landscape, with Clear Blue Sky (possibly France) Oil on canvas, 40 x 57.5cm (15¾ x 22¾'') Signed and inscribed 'To General Roe. With Kindest Regards from the Painter 1904' Major General Charles Francis Roe (1838-1922), was an American soldier of some note. Having entered West Point in 1864, he played a key role as an officer in the campaign against the Sioux and their allies along the Yellowstone in 1876. He was, as 2nd Lieutenant in the 2nd Cavalry, among the first to encounter the battlefield after the Battle of Little Big Horn, writing a gruesome description of what he found there. From 1898 to 1912, he commanded the National Guard in New York State. Thaddeus encountered Roe in 1904, shortly after his arrival in New York City, where he took a studio on W. 33rd Street and maintained a presence until late 1906. In 1904, he appears to have confined his travels in the United States to between New York State and Washington DC, so the riverscape is most likely to represent a place in that area. This is certainly consistent with the terrain described. Roe sat in uniform for Thaddeus the same year, and the resulting formal portrait remained in Roe's family in Pound Ridge, NY until the family home was sold in 1978. On more than one occasion, Thaddeus offered complimentary works to his sitters, both as a gesture of good will and in an attempt to secure further commissions. The riverscape may, therefore, coincide very closely with the portrait.Thaddeus considered Roe significant enough among his sitters to illustrate his portrait of him in his ''Recollections of a Court Painter'', published in London in 1912, when Thaddeus was still living in the USA. Our grateful thanks to Dr Brendan Rooney who provided us with the information to compile this catalogue entry.