Portrait of Hammond Crosse (1703-1785) Circa 1744; Attributed to Bartholomew Dandridge (1691-C.1754)

The sitter in this grand scale portrait is Hammond Crosse, a member of the wealthy Crosse family from London who made their fortune in the brewing industry. John Crosse, the sitter’s grandfather, inherited an estate worth £100,000 when he was just four years of age. The sitter of our portrait was made High Sherriff of Bedfordshire in 1744. It is likely that this portrait was painted at this time to mark the event.

Hammond married the daughter of his father’s cousin and together the couple had three sons and a daughter. When Hammond died, he owned property at Hockley and had bought more in the area. His eldest son, Thomas, received a large estate at Brammingham and his second son, Hammond, who became a Middlesex Commissioner for Land Tax Redemption, inherited a property in Clerkenwell, London. The youngest son, John, who had studied at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, and had been ordained, became a well-known Vicar of Bradford in Yorkshire, where his father had purchased the right of presentation.

There is an interesting and extensive account of his eldest son’s three-year Grand Tour (a customary travel throughout Europe and a rite of passage for all British ‘society’ gentleman). It is contained within two large volumes and accounts of Thomas’ journey on the continent moving in the highest circles of society there. On one occasion he received an invitation to dine with Voltaire in Ferney, France (where Voltaire had purchased extensive lands).

The portrait is inscribed at the top “Hammond Crosse Esq. Born Oct 19th 1703, High Sherriff of Bedfordshire 1744, Died August 31st 1785”.

The sale of this item is accompanied by a copy of The Last Will and Testament of the sitter, Hammond Crosse Esq.

Bartholomew Dandridge (1691-c.1754) was an English portrait painter born in Oxford. He was a pupil of John Vanderbank and he also St Martin’s Academy and with Sir Godfrey Kneller's academy of painting, later taking over Kneller’s studio in 1731. He had a career as a fashionable portrait painter in London for more than forty years, working in a style similar to that of John Vanderbank. He is known as a pioneer of the rococo conversation piece, making groups of model figures to judge effects of light and shade. Vertue considered him to be the ablest, and most original exponent of these pictures during his time.

Provenance: Bonhams 28 Jan 1982 (lot 18)

Christies 28 Jan 1983, lot 30, as Dandridge

Private UK collection

Measurements: Height 144cm, Width 120cm framed (Height 56.75”, Width 47.25” framed)

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