Lot 21: WILLIAM TOMKINS (C.1732-1792)

A VIEW OF BOLDREVIEW LODGE WITH A HUNTING PARTY, CATTLE, HORSES, DEER AND OTHER FIGURES IN THE FOREGROUND, THE NEW FOREST BEYOND
signed and dated 'Wm Tomkins/1769' (lower centre)
oil on canvas
39 3/4 x 71 1/2 in. (101 x 181.6 cm.)

London, Royal Academy, 1769, no. 113, A View of Bolderview Lodge in the New Forest, Hampshire, belonging to the Earl of Delaware.

J. Harris, The Artist and the Country House, London, 1979, p. 254.

Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, London, 6 July 1983, lot 253.

Boldre Hill (View) Lodge, Boldre, in the New Forest, Hampshire was built by John, 1st Earl De La Warr (1693-1766) between 1732 and 1747 as a hunting lodge and it was used in this way by the De La Warr family until it was demolished in 1833.

John West, 7th Baron and 1st Earl De La Warr, only son of John, 6th Baron De La Warr, and Margaret, daughter and heir of John Freeman, succeeded to the baronetcy at his father's death on 26 May 1723. He was made Lord of the Bedchamber to King George I on 3 June 1725, was appointed K.C.B. in the same year, and on being made Treasurer of the Household in 1731 he was made a member of the Privy Council. In March 1736 he was sent to Saxe-Gotha to accompany Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha to England, where she was to marry Frederick, Prince of Wales.

De La Warr's political career began in 1715 with his election as Member of Parliament for Grampound, in Cornwall. He was always pro-government and was twice elected as Speaker of the House, he also took an active part in debates over the political responsibilities of the House of Lords. He was a General in the army and was appointed Captain-General and Governor of New York and New Jersey in 1737, and later was given governorships of Tilbury Fort in 1747, and of Guernsey in 1752.

On 25 May 1721 West married, in secret, Lady Charlotte Maccarthy (d. 1735), the daughter of Donough Maccarthy or MacCarty, 4th Earl of Clancarty, with whom he had two sons and two daughters. Secondly, he married Anne Nevill, née Walker (d. 1748), the widow of George Nevill, 13th Baron Abergavenny. He died on 16 March 1766 and was buried on 22 March at St Margaret's, Westminster.

A variation of this view, on a smaller scale, also signed and dated 1769, was in the collection of Colonel M. H. Grant, the celebrated writer on English landscape painters.

VAT rate of 17.5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.