Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this piece to the 18th Century.
He married Jane, daughter of Sir Paul Barret.
Cusworth Hall is an 18th-century Grade I listed country house. Set in the landscaped parklands of Cusworth Park, it is a good example of a Georgian country house. It is now a country house museum.
The Wrightson family had held the lordship of Cusworth since 1669.
The present house was built in 1740-1745 by George Platt for William Wrightson to replace a previous house and was further altered in 1749-1753 by James Paine. On William's death in 1760 the property passed to his daughter Isabella, who had married John Battie, who took the additional name of Wrightson in 1766. He employed the landscape designer Richard Woods to remodel the park. Woods was one of a group of respected landscape designers working across the country during the 18th century and Cusworth was one of his most important commissions in South Yorkshire, another being at Cannon Hall. Woods created a park of 250 acres with a hanging and a serpentine river consisting of three lakes embellished with decorative features such as the Rock Arch and the Cascade.[2]
The estate afterwards passed to John and Isabella's son, William Wrightson (1752-1827), who was the MP for Aylesbury from 1784-1790 and High Sheriff of Yorkshire for 1819–1820.[3] He was succeeded by his son William Battie-Wrightson (1789–1879), who at various times was MP for East Retford, Hull and Northallerton. He died childless and Cusworth Hall passed to his brother Richard Heber Wrightson, who died in 1891.
The property was then inherited by his nephew William Henry Thomas, who took the surname Battie-Wrightson by Royal Licence and died in 1903. He had married Lady Isabella Cecil, eldest daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Exeter. Between 1903 and 1909 Lady Isabella made further alterations to the house.[2] She died in 1917, leaving an only son Robert Cecil Battie-Wrightson (1888-1952). On his death in 1952, the estate descended to his sister, a nurse who had married a Major Oswald Parker but later was variously known as Miss Maureen Pearse-Brown and as Mrs Pearce. She was obliged to sell the contents of Cusworth Hall, including this portrait, in October 1952 to meet the death duties levied at Robert Cecil's death. She subsequently sold the hall to Doncaster Council.
SIZE: 39 x 34 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE: Wrightson family collection at Cusworth Hall until the dispersal sale in 1952. The painting hung on the wall of the Principal Staircase at Cusworth before the death of the last squire, Mr. Robert Cecil Battie-Wrightson, in April, 1952. The painting was sold in the October 1952 sale for £4 and purchased only for the heavy gilt frame which was later used to house a mirror - a popular fashion at that time. The painting itself was left for years more or less abandoned in a garage until eventually discovered and then hung in the house of the family in Bristol from where it was recently consigned for auction (dirty and with some poor restoration and heavy overpaint which has now been attended to.) The painting is documented on page 7 of the 1990 book 'Cusworth Hall and the Battie-Wrightson Family' by W. H. Gordon-Smith, a Trustee of Cusworth Estate.
Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this piece to the 18th Century.
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 Thomas Wrightson 1714; Circle of Sir Godfrey Kneller.
