Lot 768: JAMES McARDELL (1729-1765) AFTER SIR JOSHUA

JAMES McARDELL (1729-1765) AFTER SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, PRA (1723-1792) PORTRAIT OF MRS HUGH BONFOY NEE ELIOT proof mezzotint before letters, trimmed to within plate mark, 1755, 37.5 x 27.5cm, and four other mezzotints by McArdell, comprising Mary Duchess of Ancaster 1757 and John Duke of Montagu both after Thomas Hudson, John Couts Esqr after Allan Ramsay and Rembrandt's mother, all trimmed to or within plate mark, some faults (5) Provenance: Collection of Leonard Daneham Cunliffe (d 1937) benefactor of the Fitzwilliam Museum (d1937) thence by descent to the present vendor. Reynolds evident pleasure in his portrait of Mrs Bonfoy was such that "it was one of the first of his works to be engraved as a mezzotint, despite the obscurity of the sitter" (N Penny quoted by D Mannings in Sir Joshua Reynolds, Complete Catalogue of his Paintings 2000, no 200, pp94-5).