It is most unusual for a painting of this age to remain unlined; as a result the canvas has lost a small amount of tension, but, interestingly, as it has not been covered by a lining, the sitter's name can be seen painted on the verso.
An inscription to the sitter's right reads: "MARY wife of GEO. PERROTT Esqr / Baron of the Exchequer / and dau. of Wm. BOWER Esqr / of Bridlington, Yorkshire. / ob:1784."
He was the second son of Thomas Perrott, Prebendary of Ripon and Rector of Welbury in the North Riding of Yorkshire, and of St. Martin-in-Micklegate in the city of York by his wife Anastasia, daughter of the Rev. George Plaxton, Rector of Barwick- in-Elmet in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
After receiving his education at Westminster School, he was admitted a student of the Inner Temple in November 1728, and was called to the bar in 1732.
He married, in 1742, MARY, only daughter of JOHN BOWER of Bridlington Quay, Yorkshire and widow of Peter Whitton, Lord Mayor of York in 1728. Mary was born in 1702 in Bridlington Quay.
In May 1757 Perrott was elected a bencher of his inn, and in 1759 was made a King's Counsel.
On 24 Jan. 1763 he was called to the degree of Serjeant, and appointed a baron of the exchequer in the place of Sir Henry Gould the younger.
He was seized with a fit of palsy at Maidstone during the Lent assizes in 1775, and shortly afterwards retired from the bench with a pension of £1,200 a year.
Having purchased the manor of Fladbury and other considerable estates in Worcestershire he retired to Perrott House, Pershore, where he died on 28 Jan. 1780, in the seventieth year of his age. A monument was erected to his memory in the parish church at Laleham, Middlesex, in pursuance of directions contained in his widow's will.
His widow Mary died on 7 March 1784, aged 82.
IMAGES 7 and 8 show Perrott House in Pershore, Worcs.
Biographical information from:-
Stephen L and S Lee, eds. 1917. The Dictionary of National Biography from the Earliest Times to 1900. Volume XV Owens-Pockrich. Oxford University Press, Oxford. P 905.
the website 'Perrotts of Yorkshire'.
JONATHAN RICHARDSON (1665–1745) sometimes called "the Elder" to distinguish him from his son) was an English artist, collector of drawings, and writer on art, working almost entirely as a portrait-painter in London.
In 1731 he was considered by some art-critics as one of the three foremost painters of his time with Charles Jervas and Michael Dahl. He was the master of Thomas Hudson and George Knapton.
SIZE: 38 x 32 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE:Private Collection.
Roy and nadine precious: specialists in portraiture from the 16th to the 20th century. Established in 1972.
You can view the stock and full dealer information on the Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art Profile Page
Portrait of Mary, Wife of George Perrott, Early 18th Century; Follower of Jonathan Richardson.
