Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this piece to the 18th Century.
His coat of arms, name and the year 1709 are inscribed on the stone plinth.
GUILFORD KILLIGREW was born circa 1695. He was the son of Charles Killigrew and Jemima Bockenham.
He served as a cornet and later Lt Col of Lord Mark Kerr's Regiment of Dragoons according to the 1740 army list.
Guilford died on 18 February 1751. He left no issue. He was described as Lt Colonel of Kerr's Dragoons.
His will was proved on 23 July 1751 at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. He left his property in trust for Guilford Boyes, living under his protection, who was baptised 22 Sep 1730 at Allerton in Yorkshire, as daughter of John Boyes, and apprenticed to a milliner in Manchester. A Guilfred Killigrew married on 18 Sep 1759 at Manchester Cathedral to John Wright.
Guilford's father was Charles Killigrew (1655–1725) an English courtier, theatre manager and Master of the Revels.
Born at Maastricht on 29 December 1655, he was son of Thomas Killigrew the elder, by his second wife, Charlotte, daughter of John de Hesse of Holland. He was Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to Charles II, 1670, James II, 1685, and William III and Mary II, 1689. He was Master of the Revels in 1680, patentee of Drury Lane Theatre in 1682, and Commissioner of Prizes in 1707.
Killigrew lived at Somerset House, London, and Thornham Hall, Suffolk. His varied acquirements won him the friendship of John Dryden (cf. Dedication of Juvenal, 1693, p. xxiii), Humphrey Prideaux, and others. He was buried in the Savoy Hospital on 8 January 1725, leaving by his wife Jemima, niece of Richard Bokenham, mercer, of London, two sons, Charles (died 1756) and Guilford. His library was sold in the December following.
JOHN CLOSTERMAN (1660-1711) was born in Osnabruck, the son of an artist. His early training was from his father, but in 1679 he moved to Paris where for two years he studied under the portraitist Francois de Troy.
In 1681 Closterman came to England and entered into partnership with the established portrait painter John Riley.
By 1683 he had developed an independent practice; he was adept at baroque poses still with a slightly French influence, with rather flashily painted drapery
In the 1690's, as his reputation grew, he painted for more exalted and aristocratic patrons, like the Dukes of Somerset and Marlborough.
He lived in great splendour in his house in Covent Garden, London, with his wife Hannah.
In 1699, after a visit to Rome, he fell under the spell of the Antique and painted his famous full length portraits of the Earl of Shaftesbury in Classical pose.
SIZE: 67 x 42.25 inches including frame.
PROVENANCE:
By descent through the Killigrew family of Thornham Hall, Eye, Suffolk.
The Collection of the late Anne, Lady Winnington of Brockhill Court, Worcestershire, and London.
Verso: a label dated 1937 incorrectly attributing the portrait to Kneller.
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.
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Portrait of Guilford Killigrew 1709, by John Closterman.
