Lot 961: Thomas Hargreaves (1774 - 1847) 'Portrait of James

Thomas Hargreaves (1774 - 1847)
'Portrait of James Penny (died 1799)'
Oil on canvas, 76 x 63cm
Footnote: James Penny (after whom Penny Lane of Beatles' fame is named) was an immensely successful 18th century Liverpool merchant. He has gained posthumous fame as a virulent opponent of the abolition of slavery. He gave evidence to various Parliamentary committees on how necessary slavery was to the mercantile prosperity of England. He pleaded that the slaves he shipped were well-treated - they were allowed to dance and play board games when on deck and were protected from the effects of the sun! Below deck they each had 14 inches of space (presumably packed on their sides). In addition, his death rate was only one in twelve!
One of Penny's daughters married the writer and moral philosopher Professor John Wilson (better known by his pen name, Christopher North) and it is through Wilsons descendants that the continuous history of the portrait can be traced. By 1877 the portrait belonged to Penny's granddaughter Margaret Wilson of Tillyside House. She left it to Mabel Scott Moncrieff who in turn left it in 1931 to her nephew Norman Pearson (in which year the painting was cleaned by Doig, Wilson & Wheatley of Edinburgh). The vendor is a great-great-great granddaughter of Penny.
The painter Thomas Hargreaves established a large portrait practice in Cheshire, Lancashire and north Wales. He had trained at the Royal Academy schools and been for a time an assistant to Sir Thomas Lawrence. He was a founder member of the Liverpool Academy in 1810 and exhibited intermittently at the Royal Academy until 1843. There is an important collection of his work in the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, including a self-portrait.