Portrait Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington with Marcus Richard Fitzroy Thomas c1783
British School, Circa 1783 — After Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington, with Marcus Richard Fitzroy Thomas
A Georgian Watercolour Exploring Military Prestige, Colonial History and Representation
Highlights
• Late-18th-century watercolour interpretation of a documented Reynolds composition.
• Portrays Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington, and Marcus Richard Fitzroy Thomas.
• Derived from Reynolds’s 1782 full-length portrait in the Yale Center for British Art.
• Marcus was identified through recent archival research and formally added to Yale’s title in 2022.
• Ceremonial armour, crimson drapery and a plumed helmet create a theatrical military image.
• Dramatic Grand Manner setting painted in blue, silver, ochre and smoky grey washes.
• An important subject for collectors interested in Black British history and Georgian portraiture.
• Image dimensions of approximately 41 cm high by 33 cm wide.
• Professionally conserved and presented behind specialist AR70 glazing.
• Handmade reverse-profile frame with a gold-leaf finish.
• Framed and prepared for immediate display.
Introduction
This unusual late-Georgian watercolour records one of Sir Joshua Reynolds’s most historically resonant portrait compositions: Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington, accompanied by Marcus Richard Fitzroy Thomas.
The work dates from approximately 1783, shortly after Reynolds completed his monumental oil painting in 1782. The original was exhibited at the Royal Academy under the incomplete title Portrait of a Nobleman, leaving Marcus unnamed within the formal record.
Recent research by the Yale Center for British Art has restored Marcus’s identity to the composition. His presence transforms the portrait from a conventional celebration of aristocratic military authority into a complex document of Georgian society and Britain’s colonial relationship with Jamaica.
Rendered in watercolour on paper, this interpretation brings a distinctive luminosity and intimacy to Reynolds’s imposing Grand Manner design.
Catalogue Details
Artist: Unidentified British School artist
Associated artist: Sir Joshua Reynolds
Catalogue designation: After Sir Joshua Reynolds
Title: Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington, and Marcus Richard Fitzroy Thomas
Date: Circa 1783
Period: Late Georgian; late 18th century
Country of origin: Great Britain
Medium: Watercolour on paper
Genre: Historical double portrait
Style: Grand Manner portraiture
Signature: Unsigned
Image dimensions: 41 cm high × 33 cm wide
Frame: Handmade reverse-profile moulding with a gold-leaf finish
Glazing: AR70 low-reflective glass with UV filtering
Presentation: Professionally conserved and ready to hang
Catalogue Note
Charles Stanhope is shown standing at full length within an idealised landscape. His ceremonial armour gleams in cool blue-grey and silver tones, while a vivid crimson sash introduces colour and visual authority.
Marcus Richard Fitzroy Thomas occupies the lower side of the composition and supports the Earl’s elaborate plumed helmet. Although the figures are organised according to the social hierarchy of the Georgian period, Marcus is neither incidental nor invisible. His figure is essential to the design and its historical meaning.
The lowering sky is constructed from fluid washes of indigo, grey, ochre and muted blue. These colours frame the polished armour and lend the composition a sense of movement and theatrical anticipation.
Reynolds’s original was partly informed by Hyacinthe Rigaud’s portrait of Augustus II, King of Poland, which similarly employed armour, an expansive landscape and a Black attendant to communicate status and imperial authority.
For a contemporary viewer, the work provides an opportunity to examine how aristocratic power was constructed through portraiture and how Black figures were present within, but frequently excluded from, traditional art-historical narratives.
This watercolour is catalogued as an independent late-18th-century interpretation after Reynolds. It is not presented as a work by Reynolds or as having been produced under his supervision.
The Sitters
Charles Stanhope was born in 1753 and pursued a military career from an early age. He served in North America during the American War of Independence and was present during Burgoyne’s unsuccessful Saratoga campaign.
He inherited the Harrington earldom in April 1779 and married Jane Fleming the following month. In 1780, his regiment travelled to Jamaica, then Britain’s largest and most profitable slave colony, to prepare its defence against a potential French attack.
Stanhope returned to Britain in 1782 and sat to Reynolds following his promotion to colonel and appointment as an aide-de-camp to George III.
Marcus Richard Fitzroy Thomas was approximately fourteen when he sat for Reynolds. Reynolds’s records establish that Marcus attended the studio in July 1782, close to the date of Stanhope’s own sitting.
Evidence concerning his origins remains incomplete. Current Yale scholarship considers him likely to have come from Jamaica and possibly to have been connected with Stanhope’s regiment, household or extended plantation-owning family network.
Later records provide a clearer outline of his adult life. He was baptised in 1787, married Elizabeth Plaxton in 1793 and became a drummer in the Westminster militia. He had a family and spent periods at military encampments along the English coast before dying in poverty in London in 1816.
Naming Marcus within the portrait acknowledges him as an identifiable historical person rather than an anonymous accessory to another sitter’s status.
The Artist
Sir Joshua Reynolds shaped the development of British portraiture and served as the first President of the Royal Academy.
He encouraged artists to look beyond simple likeness and draw upon Classical sculpture, Renaissance painting and European court portraiture. This approach became known as the Grand Manner.
In his 1782 portrait, Reynolds presents Stanhope as an archaic military hero rather than in contemporary uniform. The ceremonial armour was imaginary, but it gave the Earl’s recent military service a timeless and elevated character.
The portrayal of Marcus simultaneously reflects the conventions and inequalities of aristocratic portraiture. His recovered identity now gives the composition additional biographical and cultural importance.
The present artist has used transparent and opaque watercolour passages to reinterpret Reynolds’s oil painting on a more intimate scale, preserving its dramatic structure and principal historical details.
Provenance
• Private collection, Scotland.
• Subsequently acquired through a Scottish auction house.
• Curated and professionally catalogued by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®.
• Privately loaned and exhibited at a Middle Shire museum, according to the supplied provenance.
Dimensions
Image dimensions:
Height: 41 cm or approximately 16.1 inches.
Width: 33 cm or approximately 13 inches.
Framed dimensions:
Height: 55 cm or approximately 21.7 inches.
Width: 47 cm or approximately 18.5 inches.
Depth: 1.5 cm or approximately 0.6 inches.
All measurements are approximate. The framed measurements include the frame.
Condition Report
The watercolour is offered in good overall historic condition.
Its paper support is stable, and the principal colours remain visually effective. Foxing, fading and age-related staining are present in areas.
Minor paint loss and localised retouching can be seen within the lower corner and adjacent background. These elements have been considered when assessing the condition and presentation of the work.
The painting has been professionally conserved and fitted within a recently added reverse-profile gold-leaf frame. The handmade frame remains clean and structurally sound, with minor irregularities characteristic of its construction.
AR70 low-reflective and UV-filtering protective glass provides clear viewing while helping to preserve the watercolour beneath.
Please refer to the complete photographic record when evaluating condition. Further photographs can be provided upon request.
Shipping
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The framed watercolour will be carefully protected, professionally packaged and dispatched with full transit insurance.
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Attribution and Research
The historical observations, provenance research, attribution analysis and contextual commentary presented within this catalogue entry represent the professional opinion of Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®. They are offered in good faith as informed scholarly assessments based upon the available evidence, comparative research, published reference material and our experience within the international fine art market.
These observations should be understood as professional opinions rather than definitive statements of fact or guarantees of authorship, attribution, date, origin, provenance or historical interpretation. As with all historic works of art, future documentary discoveries, technical examination, conservation analysis or advances in academic research may refine, expand or revise current interpretations.
Certificate of Sale & Dealer Attribution
The artwork will be supplied with a Certificate of Sale & Dealer Attribution issued by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®, recording the artwork’s catalogue details, attribution, provenance as stated, and details of the sale. This document accompanies the work as part of its ongoing ownership and provenance record.
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