Beschreibung:

SIR FRANCIS GRANT PRA (1803-1878) Portrait of a Lady, Full Length, Standing in a Landscape Wearing a Riding Habit Oil on canvas, 223.5 x 133cm (88 x 52½'') Born the fourth son of Francis Grant Laird of Kilgraston, Perthshire in Scotland, the young Francis was educated at Harrow. His father died when he was quite young and he inherited a large sum of money. Enjoying the sporting life, he had planned to enter the legal profession but diverted to become a painter. He was largely self-taught and spent a short time in the studio of Alexander Nasmyth His interest in sporting pursuits extended to his work and he gained a reputation as a fine painter of this genre, exhibiting a picture called Melton Breakfast at the 1834 Royal Academy exhibition. In 1837 he exhibited The Meeting of His Majestys Staghounds on Ascot Heath, painted for the Earl of Chesterfield, and in 1839 The Melton Hunt, purchased by the Duke of Wellington (both of these have been engraved, the former by F. Bromley, the latter by W. Humphreys . In 1841, he painted A Shooting Party at Rawton Abbey for the Earl of Lichfield, and in 1848 The Cottesmore Hunt for Sir Richard Sutton. In 1840 Grant exhibited an equestrian group of Queen Victoria riding with Lord Melbourne and others in Windsor Park, and at once became the fashionable portrait-painter of the day. His portrait of Lady Glenlyon, exhibited in 1842, increased his reputation, and for nearly forty years the most graceful and refined portraits in the Royal Academy exhibitions came from his studio. Grant was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, and in 1851 an academician, later serving as its President. Between 1834 and 1879 he contributed no fewer than 253 works, many of which were full-length portraits, to the exhibitions of the Royal Academy. Among these works were equestrian portraits of Queen Victoria and the prince consort, painted for Christs Hospital; the Prince of Wales; an equestrian group of the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort; Sidney Herbert afterwards Lord Herbert of Lea; Lord John Russell afterwards Earl Russell; Benjamin Disraeli, afterwards Earl of Beaconsfield amongst many others. The present work, a portrait of an unidentified lady, wearing a riding habit is a signature work by the artist and displays his considerable skills in portraying his sitters on a very grand scale. Despite the high Victorian costume, the composition of the picture, the subjects pose and the classically inspired landscape backdrop all acknowledge the great 17th and 18th century British portraiture tradition from which the artist has come from and was inspired by.