Attributed to Richard Livesay, 
British 1750-1826- 
Portrait of a gentleman, traditionally held...

Attributed to Richard Livesay, 
British 1750-1826- 

Portrait of a gentleman, traditionally held to be from the MacGuire family, seated half-length, wearing naval dress and a powdered wig; 

oil on canvas, 61.1 x 50.5 cm. 

Provenance: 
[Possibly] Anon. sale, Phillips, London, 7 June 1971, lot 112 as 'English School'. 
with the Sabin Galleries, London. 
Private Collection, UK. 

Note: 
Livesay was a pupil of Benjamin West (1728-1820), and began his career in London, exhibiting for the first time at the Royal Academy in 1776. Between 1777 and 1785 he lodged with Jane Hogarth, William Hogarth's wife, in Leicester Fields. Engaged by West to copy pictures at Windsor, Livesay moved there in around 1790, and gave lessons in drawing to some of the royal children. In 1796 he was appointed drawing-master to the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth, and lived in Portsea. On an address card which he issued at that time he described himself as 'Portrait, Landscape, and Marine Painter, Drawing-Master to the Royal Academy, Portsmouth, 61 Hanover Street, Portsea.' A portrait by Livesay of James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont has a copy in the National Portrait Gallery, London [NPG 176]. The version in the National Gallery of Ireland [NGI.4051] is taken to be the original.

The present work is a particularly finely executed example of Livesay's portraiture. One can certainly see a similarity to the style of his master Benjamin West and, of course, his position at the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth echoes with the uniform of the present sitter. The MacGuire family had estates in Newry, Co. Down, Northern Ireland.