Portrait of William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield

Jean-Baptiste van Loo (1684 - 1745)

Kenwood House

1738

William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield purchased Kenwood in 1754 and lived there until his death in 1793. Mansfield is almost always depicted at an older age and in formal attire, referring to his legal career. This intimate portrait at the age of 33 was clearly painted for his close friends as he is depicted without a wig and wearing an informal velvet gown, waistcoat and hat. Kenwood will hang the portrait in Lord Mansfield's dressing room on the ground floor and use it to help explain his early career, aspects of his social circle, as well as his Jacobite sympathies which he kept separate from his legal rulings throughout his life, so as not to taint his professional reputation.

• Medium: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 91.5 x 71cm
• Art Fund Grant: £79659 ( Total: £79,659)
• ArtFunded in: 2010
• Vendor: Sotheby's

Provenance

Henry Hyde, 5th Baron Hyde of Hindon; by descent to Charlotte Capel, who married Thomas Villiers, 1st Earl of Clarendon; thence by descent to 7th Earl of Clarendon.

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