Cheffins
Los 577
Attributed to Mather Brown (American, 1761-1831) Portrait of Major General John Robinson (1757-1819), of Denston Hall, Suffolk oil on canvas 76 x 64cm (30 x 25in) Provenance: By descent within the family of the sitter at Denston Hall, Suffolk, to the present owner Other Notes: John Robinson, a third generation professional soldier, raised a corps of fencibles during the revolutionary war and served in Ireland in 1798. He owed his seat in Parliament to his brother-in-law Edward, Lord Clive, during whose absence in India he was brought in for Bishop’s Castle after a contest. He was substituted temporarily for Sir Henry Strachey when the Clive interest was under challenge and his close connection with the patron was evidently his best qualification. He subsequently retained the seat, Strachey finding another. Whilst in Parliament he gave, like his patron, a general support to administration. Robinson married on 10 March 1782, Rebecca, daughter of Robert Clive, the 1st Baron Clive. The date of the present portrait would be between 1805 when Robinson was promoted to Major General, to 1811, when he became a Lieutenant General. In 1818 Robinson went to Paris, where he died on 23 May 1819, aged 62, and was buried at Père Lachaise. According to his memorial at Denston, ‘Religion, the only true source of consolation, enabled him to bear the severe domestic losses by which his latter days were embittered’. The sitter was the last male of the Robinson family of Denston Hall, Suffolk, whose family seat it had been since the early 17th Century. At his death, the property passed to his cousin Henrietta (Harriet) Jeafferson (died 1838). The present painting was sold by her son to his tenant Mrs Benyon at Denston, but subsequently bought back from her by his cousin by marriage, Algernon Dunn Gardner. We are grateful to Christopher Bryant for his assistance with the catalogue entry. Oil on canvas which has not been lined. There is a small loss to the right of the sitter's head. The rest of the paint layer is stable and secure. There are areas of retouching across the painting. The varnish is clear and even. The gilding on the frame is worn.
