Thomas Gainsborough - Portrait of William Anne Hollis Presenting a Cupto Thomas Clutterbuck [c.1784-85]

Thomas Gainsborough - Portrait of William Anne Hollis Presenting a Cup to Thomas Clutterbuck [c.1784-85], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Thomas Gainsborough painted the fourth Earl of Essex presenting a silver cup to Thomas Clutterbuck, a member of a prominent local family and also sheriff of the English county of Hertfordshire. In 1784 the Earl of Essex commissioned the painting by Gainsborough to commemorate the presentation of the cup, which had actually taken place twelve years earlier. He then gave the painting to Clutterbuck. The two families maintained close ties throughout the nineteenth century, and the silver cup is still in the Clutterbuck family's possession. The painting, although it was paid for by the earl, also remained with the family until the Getty Museum purchased it in 1972. 

[Getty Centre, Los Angeles - Oil on canvas, 58.5 x 68.5 inches]