Horace Hone (1756-1825) Miniature Portrait of Joseph Hone in military uniform (1775-1857), 1797 Watercolour on ivory, oval, 7.5 x 6.2 cm (3 x 2.5'') framed in a gold oval locket, the reverse is...

Horace Hone (1756-1825) Miniature Portrait of Joseph Hone in military uniform (1775-1857), 1797 Watercolour on ivory, oval, 7.5 x 6.2 cm (3 x 2.5'') framed in a gold oval locket, the reverse is decorated with interwoven locks of the sitter's hair inscribed on labels: 'Joseph Hone great grandfather of Elsie' and 'Joseph Hone 1775-1857 m. Mary Crosthwait, his son Nathaniel built Doulaghs [sic]. His daughter Ann married Brindley Hone (1796-1862) and their son was Nathaniel Hone RHA Signed and dated 'HH (monogram) 1797' Provenance: by descent in the Hone family, private collection. Horace Hone was the second son of Nathaniel Hone RA (1718-84).1 Horace was taught miniature painting in watercolour on ivory and on enamel by his father whose portrait of Horace sketching is in the National Gallery of Ireland. In 1770 Horace Hone attended the Royal Academy Schools in London, he exhibited at the RA from 1772-1822 and was appointed ARA in 1779. Horace Hone settled in Dublin in 1782 and worked almost exclusively in Ireland until 1804 when he returned to London. Hone was brought to Ireland by Lady Temple when her husband was viceroy. Lady Temple was Baroness Nugent of Carlanstown in her own right in the peerage of Ireland and through her social connections in Ireland and with the backing of the viceregal court she ensured that Hone received ample patronage.2 Hone was so successful that he was appointed Miniature Painter to the Prince Regent in 1795. Strickland records that Horace Hone painted several of his cousins during his time in Dublin.3 He had an extensive practice which was badly affected by the Act of Union when many of his fashionable patrons moved to London. He spent 1804 in Bath. For some time afterwards he lived in London, in the house of his patron, Richard, 7th Viscount Fitzwilliam of Merrion (founder of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge), where he re-established himself as a miniaturist. Hone had long suffered from mental illness and his decline is recorded in The Diary of Joseph Farington.4 He died in London and is buried in the grounds of St George's Chapel, Bayswater Road. Joseph Hone was a merchant of Mountjoy Square and 47 Harcourt Street and Rockfield, County Dublin was J.P. for the City of Dublin, County Tipperary and King's County. He married Elinor Maxwell the daughter of Richard Maxwell, a merchant of Pill Lane. She bore him two sons and two daughters. On the death of his first wife he married Mary Crosthwaite the daughter of Leland Crosthwaite of Dollymount, Clontarf, who was the Governor of the Bank of Ireland from 1808-10. They had five sons and four daughters. Their eldest son (also Joseph) lived at 1 Fitzwilliam Square and at Saint Doulough's Park, Raheny. During the 1780s, the size of the ivory support gradually increased allowing for a larger portrait to be painted. This portrait of Joseph Hone exemplifies Horace Hone's mature individual watercolour on ivory style which is painted with characteristic curving parallel linear brush strokes. The shading of the face is done using minute blue parallel lines. Washes of colour are applied thinly in the areas of the face and background. The washes of colour and lightly applied brush strokes allow more ivory to show through which gives the surface luminosity and fully exploits the watercolour on ivory technique. The details of the uniform are highlighted in gouache.

View more View less