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Lot Essay
The sitter was the eldest son of William Northey, of Compton Bassett, Wiltshire, M.P. for Calne (1713) and Wootton Bassett (1714), and his wife Abigail, only daughter of Sir Thomas Webster, 1st Bt. of Battle Abbey, Sussex. He was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Country Militia, one of the Commissioners for Trade, and Groom of the Chamber to King George III. Northey was M.P. for Calne (1747), Maidstone (1761) and Great Bedwyn (1768). He married twice, firstly Anne, daughter of the Rt. Hon. Edward Hopkins, M.P., Secretary of State for Ireland, and secondly to Miss Thompson.
We are grateful to Dr. John Hayes and Hugh Belsey for dating this portrait to the 1760s. One of two autograph portraits by Gainsborough of William Northey. The present picture had remained in the family of the sitter until it was sold at Sotheby's, London, on 15 November 1989. The other, long referred to as 'Gentleman in Medlar-Red Coat' (E. Waterhouse, Gainsborough, London, 1966, no. 778), was sold at Sotheby's, New York, on 3 June 1988 as lot 120.
We are grateful to Dr. John Hayes and Hugh Belsey for dating this portrait to the 1760s. One of two autograph portraits by Gainsborough of William Northey. The present picture had remained in the family of the sitter until it was sold at Sotheby's, London, on 15 November 1989. The other, long referred to as 'Gentleman in Medlar-Red Coat' (E. Waterhouse, Gainsborough, London, 1966, no. 778), was sold at Sotheby's, New York, on 3 June 1988 as lot 120.