Portrait of a Gentleman C.1680; Circle of Nicholas De Largilierre (1656-1746)

*An opportunity to purchase an item with a long and interesting provenance. This work formed part of a collection of pictures from the antiquaire André Coltée Ducarel (1713-1785). It descended through the Coltée Ducarel family the Palmer Baronets for over 300 years.

This half-length portrait depicts a gentleman believed to be an ancestor of André Coltée Ducarel (1713-1785). The sitter is wearing a Japanese rok which was a type of banyan of rich brocaded silk, a crisp white lace cravat and silk bows. These garments were at the height of fashion in 1680s France. The banyan was commonly worn indoors (sometimes called an Indian or Persian gown due to their Eastern origin and Oriental cut) when visitors were met. Although very comfortable they were highly respectable and quite splendid (often made from brocades, velvets and silks, with elegant masses of fabric protecting against the cold or draughts). These garments and the full bottomed wig would have cost a fortune.

The popularity of wigs was immense and this intensified the demand for them so much that natural hair became a valued commodity. Dealers in hair arose in all quarters and there are accounts in France that every peasant girl was trying to sell her hair. Unfortunately wig theft became common.

The delicate modelling of the face and the sophisticated handling of the garments, notably the cravat, is indicative of a talented artist who excelled at the oil technique of painting. Presented in a good quality gilded antique frame.

Provenance: The portrait has descended through the Coltée Ducarel family and Palmer Baronets for over 300 years:-

• André (Andrew) Coltée Ducarel (1713-1785), Doctor of Civil Law in 1742, English antiquary, archivist, and librarian at Lambeth Palace, m. Sarah Desborough (1696-1791) and then to:

• the son of his deceased youngest brother Gérard Gustavus Coltée du Carel (1745-1800), Marquis du Carel, Governor of Bengal m. daughter of the Maharajah of Purnea, and then to their son:

• Philip John Ducarel (1778-1855) of Newland, Gloucestershire m. Catherine Jane Hyde Shawe (1786-1802) and then to:

• his sister Mary's niece Elizabeth Julian Fench Simpson m. Charles Archdale Palmer (1813-1860), and then to their son:

• Sir Frederick Archdale Palmer, 6th Baronet Palmer (1857-1933), and then to their son:

• Sir John Archdale Palmer, 7th Baronet Palmer (1894-1963), and then to their son:

• Sir John Edward Somerset Palmer, 8th Baronet Palmer (1926-)

André (Andrew) Coltée Ducarel was born in Paris. His parents, Jacques Coltée Ducarel (1680-1718) and Jeanne Crommelin (1690-1723), were Huguenots from Normandy. Jacques was a banker and merchant. He died in 1718, just as a new wave of Huguenot persecution was beginning, and in 1719 Jeanne fled with her three infant sons to England where they settled in Greenwich. There, Jeanne married her second husband, Jacques Girardot, another Huguenot. Andrew was sent to be educated at Eton and he later matriculated at Oxford from Trinity College, and graduated as a Bachelor of Civil Law. He was created Doctor of Civil Law in 1742 before being admitted a member of the College of Advocates at Doctors' Commons in 1743, and afterwards served as librarian there 1754-7, and as treasurer 1757-61. Ducarel was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and he was one of the first fellows of the society on its incorporation in 1755. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of London. He was keeper of Lambeth Palace Library; a post that he remained in for nearly 30 years. He published a number of his own works.

The work later passed to Sir Frederick Archdale Palmer, 6th Baronet Palmer (1857-1933). This branch of the Palmer Baronetcy, family seat Wanlip Hall in the County of Leicester, was created in 1791 for Charles Grave Hudson, a Director of the South Sea Company and High Sheriff of Leicestershire in 1784. Today, the heir apparent is Robert John Hudson Palmer (born 1960).

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