ATTRIBUTED TO JONATHAN RICHARDSON (c.1725)Sir Robert Eyre Kt. (1666 - 1735)Oil on canvas, 121 x 100cmSir Robert Eyre PC (1666 - 28 December 1735) was an English lawyer, who served as Solicitor-General, then as a judge and ultimately as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.He served as Solicitor-General from 1708 to 1710. In 1710, he was appointed judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench. In 1718, he was punished for holding a differing opinion in relation to the educa- tion of the Prince of Wales children, which was at odds with that of King, an opinion that cost him the promotion to Lord Chief Justice of King’s Bench. However, he regained favour and was appointed Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1723 and then as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1725, a post in which he served until his death. This present work is based on the portrait of Sir Robert Eyre by the court painter John Riley (1646 - 1691), which is currently housed in the Salisbury Guildhall. Most of Riley’s more conventional portraits are of male sitters and their unassuming sincerity of presentation exemplifies a typically English approach to portraiture that he passed on to his pupil Jonathan Richardson the Elder (1667 - 1745). As in this present example, which borrows much from the original work, Eyre is depicted in traditional form, seated and dressed in the grandeur of his ceremonial robes, silk glove held in one hand, wear- ing his Lord Mayor’s gold chain of office. Each element of his dress, his imposing figure that occupies the majority of the picture plane, immediately calls our attention to the importance and authority of his political status.
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