The description for PORTRAIT OF LADY HOLMES,has been prepared entirely by the current
owner, Roberts S. Fastov, Esq., and, at the collector’s request, has not been
edited by Sloans & Kenyon
Note 1): Such old label on verso states:
“Lady Holmes was wife of Sir Leonard Holmes of Heytesbury House, Heytesbury,
Wiltshire.” Also, such label states that Lady Holmes portrait is “From the
collection of Lord Heytesbury.” The Heytesbury line flourished in the 19th
and 20th Centuries and the 6th Lord Heytesbury died in
2004 and was succeeded by James
William Holmes à Court, 7th Baron Heytesbury (b. 1967). Cotes was a founder of
the Royal Academy in 1768 and was very much respected by his fellow artists for
not only his oil portraits, but his pastel portraits, particularly of women, as
well, which were as good as, and exceeded in quality and beauty most of any
other English artist working in pastels. While Cotes was alive, he was held in
the same high esteem as Sir Joshua Reynolds, RA and Sir Thomas Gainsborough, RA
as a portrait painter by London society and English art cognoscenti. After
Cotes died a premature death in 1770, at age 44, his fame was, in effect,
largely eclipsed and obliterated by Reynolds and Gainsborough. Thus, Cotes' portraits,
some of which have brought in excess of $100,000 at auction, have not commanded
and do not command regularly the much higher prices of these two artists, per
Askart.com and Artprice.com, even though Cotes' level of technical skill,
subtlety, buttery brushwork and sensitive coloring and depiction of his
subjects resulted in some exquisite portraits of beautiful women, such as Lady
Holmes or the next lot, that are the equal of some of the portraits by Reynolds
and Gainsborough.
Note
2) See the following auction sales records for Cotes from Artprice.com, which
establish that the presale estimate for this Cotes' Lady Holmes auction
painting is reasonable and justifiable.
Title/Subject: Portrait Of William Earle Welby (C. 1734-1815), Of Denton,
Lincolnshire And His First Wife, Penelope (1737-1771), Playing Chess, Before A
Draped Curtain Unsigned. Oil on canvas.
53.23 in. x 60.04 in. sold for $740,610 on 07/03/2012 at Christie’s London
Title/Subject: Portrait Of Alice, Countess Of Shipbrook Signed. Oil on canvas. 50 in. x 40 in. sold
for $50,000 on 06/09/2011 at
Sotheby’s, NY
Title/Subject: Portrait Of Elizabeth Burdett (D.1807), Daughter Of Sir
Robert Burdett (1716-1797), 4th Baronet Burdett Of Bramcott, Warwickshire,
Standing Three-Quarter-Length, In A Blue Dress, Holding A Bonnet In Her Right
Hand, Which Is Resting On A Stone Plinth, 1767 Signed. Oil on canvas. 50 in. x 40.08 in. sold for $85,400 on 12/6/2006 at Bonhams, London
Title/Subject: Sarah Whatman,
Half-Length, In A Lace-Edged Blue & Gold Dress Signed. Oil on canvas. 30 1/8 in.
x 24 ½ in. sold for $132,850 on 12/06/2006 at Bonhams, London
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Title/Subject: Portrait Of A Gentleman, Said To Be Sir Hector Monro, K.B.
(1726-1806) Signed. Oil on canvas. 35
in. x 27 in. sold for $39,858 on 06/06/2007 at Sotheby’s, London
Title/Subject: Portrait Of Maria Walpole,
Countess Of Waldegrave Signed. Oil on canvas. 41 3/8 in. x 51 7/8 in. sold for
$73,948 on 12/08/2004 at Bonhams, London
Title/Subject: Portrait Of Sir James
Langham, 7th Baronet Unsigned. Oil on canvas. 49 ¼ in. x 39 3/8 in. sold for
$300,909 on 9/27/2004 at Hok Fine Art, Dublin, Ireland
Title/Subject: The Young Cricketer: Portrait Of Lewis Cage Signed. Oil on canvas. 66 ½ in. x 43 ½ in. sold for $1,083,000 on 11/15/1996 at Christie’s London