221 - DEVERIA Eugène (School of)

DEVERIA Eugène (School of) 1805–1865 Portrait of Laurence Davidson and Her Three Sons Oil on panel (some restoration and minor wear around the edges) Signature elements in the lower left H. 45.5 - W. 35.5 cm 19th-century wooden frame with gilded stucco and a foliage motif. Provenance details: On the reverse, a mark from the English panel preparer ROBERTSON & C° / 51 Long Acrel, London. Label from the art supplies dealer William Macgill / 7 Hannover Street, Edinburgh On the reverse, a small handwritten label: DODDIED—Signed on the left / English School / Museums in Dublin, Norwich, Cardiff, London / A Visit to the Ruins. An early copy of the family portrait painted by Eugène Devéria in Edinburgh (1850), exhibited at the city’s Royal Scottish Academy (1851, no. 225), and subsequently kept by the model’s family; the model was an honorary member of the Royal Company of Archers, the sovereign’s bodyguard (Catalog of the Eugène Devéria exhibition, Pau 2005–2006, pp. 71 & 80 – RMN 2005) The label of the art supply dealer visible on the back of the panel, located in Edinburgh, provides valuable information about the place and time when this early copy may have been created.