ROBERT WEST (1710 - 1770)
Drawing after the bust of Henry Boyle by John van Nost
Chalks on grisaille, 55 x 40cm
In a later frame to which a brass plaque is attached inscribed " THE RIGHT...

ROBERT WEST (1710 - 1770)
Drawing after the bust of Henry Boyle by John van Nost
Chalks on grisaille, 55 x 40cm
In a later frame to which a brass plaque is attached inscribed " THE RIGHT HONBLE HENRY BOYLE/ Speaker of The Irish House of Commons/ Created Earl of Shannon 17th April 1756/Died 27th September 1764 in his Eighty Second Year"

Provenance: Sale, Christies, 17th May 2001, lot 58

Henry Boyle (1682 - 1764)
Earl of Shannon 1756 and speaker of the House of Commons (1733 - 1756)

Described by a contemporary as "A country gentleman of great good nature and probity". His estates were centred on Castlemartyr Co. Cork. He navigated the complicated space between the House of Commons and the Castle. He oversaw the devaluation of the currency (1737) which have become overvalued through its dependence on Portuguese gold moidores and helped parliament to assert its right over the crown to dispose of the surplus of 'The Heredity Revenue' (1750s) and thereby strengthening the degree of self-government vis-à-vis the British Administration.

The Knight of Glin and Professor Anne Crookshank posited that this is the only work known by Robert West whose Drawing Academy (subsumed by the Dublin Society in 1751) created the Dublin School. They draw attention to his French training and stress that Wests' drawing schools laid the foundation to the creation of an 18th century Irish School.

Literature: Knight of Glin & Crookshank, Ireland Painters (Illustrated), Yale 2002, p.84

"We attributed a most striking portrait of speaker Boyle to Robert West. Boyle is shown with his long speaker's wig; such as very realistic study is unlikely to be a posthumous portrait - It is very softly drawn with great care taken in representing the subtle anatomy of the face and the beautiful fluidity of his wig, not to mention his (Boyle's) intelligent and benign character."

 

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