Sir Robert Clayton
Thomas Gainsborough1769
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Liverpool, United Kingdom
Sir Robert Clayton stands before a green damask drapery, with his body turned slightly to his right, and faces the beholder. In contrast to his dark eyebrows he wears a powdered bag wig with a high toupee, with a buff-coloured suit with a fashionable low standing collar and gold buttons and trim. To display his lace stock and cuffs his arms are crossed over his cane from which hangs a black tassel ribbon. In the upper hand, his right, he holds a black tricorn hat. The inscription on the back of the canvas suggests that the portrait was commissioned to mark the sitter’s inheritance of the baronetcy.
- Title: Sir Robert Clayton
- Creator: Thomas Gainsborough
- Creator Lifespan: 1727/1788
- Creator Nationality: British
- Creator Gender: Male
- Creator Death Place: London, England
- Creator Birth Place: Sudbury, Suffolk, England
- Date Created: 1769
- tag / style: Thomas Gainsborough; Portraiture; portrait; Sir Robert Clayton; damask; drapery; powdered bag wig; toupee; suit collar; gold buttons; black tricorn hat; baronetcy
- Physical Dimensions: w1010 x h1270 cm (Without frame)
- Artist biographical information: In 1759 Gainsborough moved from the east to the west. He moved from Ipswich where he was living at the time, to Bath, and he stayed in Bath from 1759 to 1774. It was this period that marked the period when Gainsborough began to excel. He entered the prime of his painting career. It is thought one reason why this move to Bath turned Gainsborough from a good painter into a remarkable painter was the proximity of a lot of Van Dyck paintings. Gainsborough hugely admired Van Dyck’s work and in fact the latter’s influence on the 18th and 19th-century portraiture was immense.
- Additional artwork information: Sir Robert Clayton (3rd Bart) was the eldest son of Sir Kendrick Clayton, 2nd Bart of Marden in Kent (d. 1769) and his wife Henrietta Maria (d. 1774), eldest daughter and co-heir of Henry Herring. He was MP for the family’s pocket borough of Bletchingley, Surrey (1 768-83); for Surrey (1783-4); again for Bletchingley (1787-96); for llchester (1796-99). He supported the Rockinghamites and voted for Fox’s East India Bill (1783).
- Type: Oil on canvas
- Rights: Presented by the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo Ltd in 1950
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