John Wollaston the Younger, 
British 1710-1775- 
Portrait of Helen Hozier, half-length, in a...

John Wollaston the Younger, 
British 1710-1775- 

Portrait of Helen Hozier, half-length, in a brown dress, lace chemise and blue shawl, within a painted stone oval; 

oil on canvas, signed and indistinctly dated 'Wollaston pinxt 17..' (lower left), bears label with old inscription reading 'A Portrait of Helen Hozier {nee Roberton} of / Lauchope... who married James Hozier esq. / of Patick and Thornwood...' attached to the upper stretcher bar, bears partial label inscribed 'J. Baird / Pump House / Hunsdon / Nr Ware / HERTS' attached verso, 75.5 x 63 cm. 

Provenance: 
Anon. sale, Bonhams, Knightsbridge, 26 October 2011, lot 136. 

Note: 
Helen Hozier, née Roberton (1885-1977) was officially the paternal great-great-grandmother of Clementine Ogilvy Spencer-Churchill, who married Winston Churchill (1874-1965) in 1908, although her paternity is contested. The companion portrait of her husband James Hozier ('of Glasgow'), of the same dimensions as the present work, sold at Christie's, New York on 22 March 1978 as lot 13. A portrait of Helen Hozier's son, William Hozier of Thornwood (1760-1841), was also painted by Wollaston, selling at Weschler's in Washington DC on 28 September 1986. 

Wollaston trained under a 'noted drapery painter in London', almost certainly Joseph van Aken (c.1699-1749), who completed the draperies for prominent portraitists Allan Ramsay (1713-1784) and Thomas Hudson (1701-1779), whose approach Wollaston imitated. In 1749, he travelled to America, where he enjoyed success as a portraitist, and was credited with introducing the newest fashions in British portrait painting to the North American colonies.