Lot 32
Attributed to Robert Field (c.1769 - c.1819)
Lot 32 Details
Attributed to Robert Field (c.1769 - c.1819), British/American/Canadian
A REGENCY COUPLE OF HIGH SOCIETY: AN NAVAL OFFICER OF THE ROYAL MARINES; A LADY IN HIGH NECK DRESS, CIRCA 1807- 1810
Pair of oils on canvas. Unsigned.
Each 30 ins x 24 ins; 76.2 cms x 61 cms
Estimate $20,000-$30,000
Additional Images
Provenance:
With W. Scott & Sons, Montreal gallery labels to the frames verso;
Galerie Valentin, Montreal gallery labels verso;
Estate of Jean-Pierre Valentin, Montreal
Literature:
Harry Piers, Robert Field - Portrait Painter in Oil, Miniatures, Water-Colours and Engraver, Frederick Fairchild Sherman, New York, 1927;
J. Russell Harper, 'Early Painters and Engravers in Canada', University of Toronto Press, 1976, p. 111
Note:
Robert Field was born in England and died in Kingston, Jamaica in 1819 according to J. Russell Harper. Field was a painter and engraver. He studied at the Royal Academy School in London in 1790. He became a skilled mezzotint and stipple engraver in England before 1794. In that year, he emigrated to the U.S. spending time in Baltimore, then Philadelphia to 1800, from 1800-1802, he was in Washington, then to Boston from from 1805-1808. In the US he executed many miniatures and a few portraits in oil of prominent Americans including Martha Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
In 1808, when tensions between America and England started to rise in the lead up to the War of 1812, Field remained a loyalist and moved from Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia. From 1816-1817, he occupied studios at various places. He served in the 1st Company of Halifax Volunteer Artillery in 1812 and became a member of the Charitable Irish Society of Halifax.
Recognized as one of Canada's leading portrait artists, Field was probably the most professionally trained painter to settle in Canada at the beginning of the 19th century and certainly ranked as Canada's leading portrait painter on the eastern seaboard. Working in the neoclassical portrait style of Henry Raeburn and Gilbert Stuart, his patrons of over 50 fine portraits Field painted in oil in Canada were army and naval officers and prominent citizens. He executed portraits for the Rockingham Club of Halifax, several of which were engraved.
Robert Field's portraits painted during the Halifax stage of his career stand as a striking illustration of patronage of the arts in colonial Canada. This pair of high society, finely executed portraits sold long ago by W. Scott & Sons, Montreal were more than likely painted by Robert Field.