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John Mytton (b.1811)

Artist

English School, c.1850

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John Mytton (b.1811)

Artist

English School, c.1850

Guide Price:

SOLD

Oil on canvas; 41 by 30; 104 x 76 cm; held in a period giltwood frame

Provenance: Captain A. C. Moller c.1950; Christies, 17th November, 1967, lot 6, sold to Colnaghi; acquired for the Paul Mellon Collection, National Gallery of Art Washington D.C. and later Yale Center for British Art being deaccessioned 1981; sold Sotheby's, Paul Mellon Collection 18th November, 1981, lot 189; Private Collection, England

In the collection of Captain Moller in 1950 this painting was believed to be by Sir Francis Grant of John Mytton. The art dealers Colnaghi did not agree with this attribution and it was with Paul Mellon as being English school. When offered by Sotheby’s in 1981 the attribution to Grant returned. Grant’s work has now been assessed in greater detail and better understood and as such the attribution does not stand true. However this portrait clearly demonstrates great skill and precision of application. Clearly falling in with the Victorian school of painting that observed great detail, the finely rendered landscape surrounding the figure in this portrait echoes that of such artists as William Maw Egley (The Talking Oak, 1857), Philip H. Calderon, (Broken Vows, 1856) and the work of the Pre-Raphaelites.

The portrait possibly represents John Glynn Mytton (b.1811), the son of Rev. Devereux Glynn Mytton, Rector of Llandyssil (1807-1857). Traditionally accepted as representing ‘John Mytton’, the apparent age of the sitter and the dateline of the painting correspond with it being this member of the Myttons, though the family was large and many branches lived within Shropshire and Wales. Depicted elegantly with silk waistcoat and cravat holding a top hat, it is a splendid record of stylish gentleman’s fashions of the period.

The background ownership of this portrait is of particular note having been in one of the greatest collections of British art ever amassed. Paul Mellon (1907-1999), the son of financier and industrialist Andrew W. Mellon, grew up surrounded by paintings from his father’s renowned art collection, which later formed the nucleus of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. A child of enormous wealth, and an English mother, his life was clearly influenced by all things British attending both Yale University in 1929 and Cambridge in England. It was during this time that he developed an appreciation for British art, culture and lifestyle that was never to leave him. From 1959 his collection of British art expanded to become the most important assembled in recent times and quickly became the by-word for excellence in the field. This portrait was acquired in 1961 and initially hanged at the National Gallery in Washington along with the rest of the collection. In 1966 Paul Mellon decided to give the greater part to Yale University together with an endowment for the foundation of a permanent home. The Yale Center for British art was opened in 1977. As the collection grew over-emphasis in certain areas was inevitable and together with space limitations the decision was taken to sell certain selected paintings for the benefit and growth of the collection as a whole. This portrait was one such painting that was deaccessioned and sold to much acclaim at a special Sotheby’s Auction in 1981.

Exhibited: National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven, U.S.A.

We are grateful to Professor Aileen Ribeiro of the Courtauld Institute of Art, London for her advice in the cataloguing of this painting.