Hugh Douglas Hamilton, Irish, 1740-1808
Title: Michael Frederick Trench (1746-1836)
Date: c.1774
Medium: Pastel and graphite on paper
Dimensions:
24 x 18 cm
Credit Line: Purchased, 1976
Object Number: NGI.7773
DescriptionThe Trench family lived at Heywood, Ballinakill in County Laois. Michael Frederick Trench (1746-1836), studied law at Middle Temple in London and was called to the Irish Bar in 1774, the year he wed Anna Helena Stewart (1741-1831). After their marriage he began improving the estate at Ballinakill, creating a Romantic demesne. An amateur architect, he designed the grand neoclassical house, named Heywood in honour of his mother-in-law. It is likely that Hamilton was commissioned to draw a series of portraits of the extended family on the occasion of their marriage. Hamilton's portraits of the young couple are accompanied by portraits of Frederick's father, the Reverend Frederick Trench and Anna's mother Mrs Mary Stewart, neé Heywood.