Hugh Douglas Hamilton, Irish, 1740-1808
Title: Portrait of Lieutenant Richard Mansergh Saint George (1756/9-1798)
Date: c.1796
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
228 x 146.2 cm
Credit Line: Purchased, 1992 (part Lane Fund)
Object Number: NGI.4585
DescriptionLieutenant Richard Mansergh St George of Headford Castle, County Galway, commissioned this large portrait both to memorialise his wife Anne, who had died in the summer of 1792, and to express his grief at her demise. The cypress trees visible in the background were a recognised symbol of mourning, while the helmet cast aside on the ground refers to Mansergh St George’s vulnerable state. He tried by various means, but unsuccessfully, to ease the pain of his loss and, convinced that he would not see the painting completed, instructed that it should be placed in a locked room to which his sons should have access only when they were old enough. He could not, however, have predicted the circumstances of his own death, killed while investigating rebel activity on his land in County Cork in January 1798.
A career soldier, Mansergh St George had received a severe head injury in the American War of Independence that altered adversely his behaviour and compelled him to wear a silk cap at all times. In Hamilton’s idealised portrait he appears with a full head of hair and more physically robust than contemporary descriptions of him suggest. The exacting description of the tomb and the landscape, as well as the representation of grief itself point to Hamilton’s experience of Italy and its art.
March 2016
A career soldier, Mansergh St George had received a severe head injury in the American War of Independence that altered adversely his behaviour and compelled him to wear a silk cap at all times. In Hamilton’s idealised portrait he appears with a full head of hair and more physically robust than contemporary descriptions of him suggest. The exacting description of the tomb and the landscape, as well as the representation of grief itself point to Hamilton’s experience of Italy and its art.
March 2016
ProvenanceCommissioned by the sitter in 1795-96; by descent to Frances Jane Edith Mansergh St George, later Mrs Edmund John Winn; by descent to Sophie Edith Winn, later Mrs Goring Apsley Treherne; by descent in the Treherne family; Sotheby's, 18 November 1992, British Paintings 1500-1850, lot 52, bought in; purchased, Private Collection, 1992
Exhibition HistoryAnnual exhibition, Society of Artists of Ireland, Dublin, 1801
Art and National Identity, Tate Britain, London, 5 July 2004 - 5 July 2005
Citizens and Kings, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais; Réunion des musées nationaux, 2 October 2006 - 8 January 2007
Art and National Identity, Tate Britain, London, 5 July 2004 - 5 July 2005
Citizens and Kings, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais; Réunion des musées nationaux, 2 October 2006 - 8 January 2007
Label TextMansergh Saint George, of Headford Castle, Co. Galway, commissioned this portrait to memorialise his wife Anne, who had died in 1792, and to express his grief. The cypress trees symbolise mourning, while the discarded helmet refers to his sorrow. Convinced that he would not see the painting completed, Mansergh Saint George instructed that it should be placed in a room to which his sons should have access only when old enough. He could not, however, have predicted the circumstances of his own death. He was killed, two years later, while investigating rebel activity on his land in Cork in January 1798.
InscriptionInscribed on tomb: NON · IMMEMOR [not forgotten]