Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this piece to the Regency era.
It is a fine example of the best work of Devis. He wears the dress uniform of the Light Dragoons.
CAPTAIN THE HONOURABLE HENRY DUNDAS SHORE (1800 - 1826) was the third son of the 1st Lord Teignmouth, Governor General of India and anti slavery campaigner.
The sitter served with the 11th Regiment of Light Dragoons as Cornet in 1818, then in the 4th Royal Irish Regiment of Dragoon Guards (being promoted to Lieutenant in November 1822) before becoming Captain in the Royal Marines in 1826.
Shore died in Loumarin, France, in April 1826. He was 26 and unmarried.
His funeral was a grand affair: "The pall was borne by officers of the French army. As the procession passed through the streets, which were densely crowded - as a holiday had been granted to the people of the neighbourhood - its progress was indicated by volleys from the carbines of the gendarmerie and the same martial tribute was bestowed at the grave." (from 'Memoir of the Life and Correspondence of John, Lord Shore', vol.2).
ARTHUR WILLIAM DEVIS (1762 - 1822). Devis was the son of Arthur Devis, a successful portrait painter. Devis enrolled at the Royal Academy Schools at the age of twelve and exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1775. In 1782, he embarked aboard the Antelope for a voyage to the East Indies, in the capacity of draughtsman. The ship was wrecked and Devis and the crew were stranded for a year on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. After a series of extraordinary adventures, during which he took part in the wars of the natives on a neighbouring island and received two arrow wounds, Devis arrived in India, where he settled for ten years, establishing a successful practice as a painter of portraits and local scenes. He attracted the attention of Sir William Jones, Lord Cornwallis and General Harris. He returned to England in 1795, concentrating mainly on painting portraits and a few notable history subjects. Perhaps his best known painting is the famous "Death of Nelson".
SIZE: 39 x 34.25 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE: By descent in the family of the sitter.
Verso: an old depository label for Lord Teignmouth, and an illegible inscription.
Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this piece to the Regency era.
Roy and nadine precious: specialists in portraiture from the 16th to the 20th century. Established in 1972.
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Portrait of Capt. The Hon. Henry Dundas Shore C.1820, by Arthur William Devis.
