Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646–1723) and Studio
Portrait of the Hon. Thomas Leveson-Gower (1699-1727)
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DateMediumMeasurements
Price (GBP)Export Price (EUR)Export Price (USD)
Price (GBP)Export Price (EUR)Export Price (USD)
c.1719-1723Oil on canvas145 x 121 cm57 x 47.75 in.
£11,250€12,150*$13,450*
£11,250€12,150*$13,450*
*Available for works shipped outside the UK. Based on current exchange rates - subject to change
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at a glance
This distinguished portrait, depicting a young member of one of Britain's most powerful landed dynasties, formed part of an important collection of pictures and family heirlooms of the Leveson-Gower family, later the immensely wealthy Dukes of Sutherland, whose ancestral seat at Trentham Hall, Staffordshire, was one of England’s most magnificent aristocratic country houses. The family’s fortunes, political influence, and immense estates encompassing vast English and Scottish landholdings and celebrated collections of some of England’s finest private art collections, placed them among the foremost aristocratic families of Britain. Traditionally attributed to Sir Godfrey Kneller, the pre-eminent portraitist of the late Stuart and early Georgian courts, the painting remained within the historic Sutherland collection for around 225 years, until its disposal by the 5th Duke of Sutherland at Christie's in 1948.
The history of Trentham Hall stretched back to a twelfth-century Augustinian priory, established on a site with religious associations dating to the seventh century. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the estate was purchased in 1540 by James Leveson, a wealthy wool merchant, beginning more than four centuries of family ownership. As the family’s wealth and political influence increased, the former monastic buildings gave way to a substantial mansion, rebuilt in the 1630s and remodelled again in the early eighteenth century.
• (Presumably) commissioned by the sitter or a member of the Leveson-Gower family, c.1719–1723, of Trentham Hall, Staffordshire;
• By descent in the Leveson-Gower family, subsequently Dukes of Sutherland;
• George Granville Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1888–1963), 5th Duke of Sutherland;
• His sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, Ancient and Modern Pictures and Drawings, the Property of His Grace the Duke of Sutherland, 22 October 1948, lot 37, as Sir
G. Kneller, Portrait of Thomas Leveson Gower, 49 × 39 inches, bought by Wiggin;
• Anonymous sale, Christie's, London, 3 August 1979, lot 82.
provenance
The portrait presents Thomas as a handsome young aristocrat, seated in a landscape beneath the dark foliage of a tree. His youthful features are delicately modelled, the pale complexion and softly flushed cheeks contrasting with his luxuriant, dark, curling periwig. He wears a fashionable grey coat, its sleeves opening to reveal fine white linen, with a loosely arranged white neckcloth and an expansive cloak of warm russet-brown drapery. The pose combines the studied informality characteristic of the English Grand Manner with an unmistakable consciousness of rank. The full periwig, relaxed neckcloth and fashionable coat are consistent with the closing years of the 1710s and early 1720s, while the broad, almost classical treatment of the drapery reflects the established vocabulary of Kneller's later portraiture.
Thomas Leveson-Gower was born at Trentham Hall on 6 May 1699, the son of John Leveson-Gower, 1st Baron Gower (1675–1709), and his wife Lady Catherine Manners (1675–1722). Through his father he inherited a distinguished lineage uniting the ancient Gower family of Yorkshire with the prosperous Levesons of Staffordshire and Shropshire. The latter had accumulated considerable wealth through commerce and landownership, particularly following the dissolution of the monasteries. In 1540 James Leveson, a prosperous wool merchant, acquired the former Augustinian priory at Trentham, establishing the foundations of an estate which would remain associated with his descendants for more than four centuries. By the seventeenth century the family's fortunes had grown sufficiently to support an imposing country residence, extensive estates and considerable political influence throughout Staffordshire.
Thomas's father, John Leveson-Gower, was an influential parliamentarian who became a leading Tory figure in the House of Commons, and subsequently served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. His political importance was matched by the family's wealth: his own father, Sir William Leveson-Gower, had possessed approximately 20,000 acres and an annual income exceeding £8,000 by the time of his death in 1691. Baron Gower died at Belvoir Castle in August 1709, when Thomas was only ten years old, leaving his eldest son John to inherit the family title and responsibilities.
Thomas's maternal ancestry was equally illustrious. His mother, Lady Catherine Manners, was a daughter of John Manners, 1st Duke of Rutland (1638–1711), and his third wife, Catherine Noel, daughter of Baptist Noel, 3rd Viscount Campden. Through the Manners family, Thomas was closely connected with Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, one of the great aristocratic seats of England. The family's prominence was reflected in the marriage settlement negotiated for Catherine Manners in 1692. The Leveson-Gowers initially sought a portion of £20,000, an immense sum for the period, before the families agreed upon £15,000. Such negotiations reveal the extraordinary wealth and dynastic ambitions which surrounded Thomas's birth.
The Leveson-Gower and Manners families were interconnected with many of the most powerful aristocratic houses of the kingdom, including the Granvilles, Pierreponts, Hydes, Noels and Cavendishes. Such relationships were far more than genealogical distinctions. They formed the intricate network of marriages, political alliances, patronage and landed influence upon which eighteenth-century aristocratic society depended. Thus, the young man represented in this portrait inherited a remarkable family history encompassing the Civil Wars, Restoration, Glorious Revolution and emergence of the Hanoverian monarchy.
Like other young men of his position, Thomas received an education intended to prepare him for public responsibility. On 15 March 1715/16, aged sixteen, he matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, an institution closely associated with the education of the English political and aristocratic elite. His elder brother John, who had succeeded as 2nd Baron Gower, was already establishing himself as head of the family's extensive interests. Thomas subsequently entered public life as Member of Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme at the general election of 1722.
The years in which Thomas entered Parliament were a period of extraordinary political and financial transformation. London was developing into one of Europe's most vigorous centres of fashionable consumption, with a flourishing market for luxury goods, fine furnishings, prints and portraiture. For a young aristocrat such as Thomas, a substantial portrait by the country's leading painter was both a personal likeness and a visible declaration of lineage, refinement and social position.
Thomas's parliamentary career, although tragically brief, was not without distinction. In May 1725 he was selected as one of the Members of Parliament responsible for managing the evidence in the impeachment proceedings against Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, the former Lord Chancellor. The proceedings constituted one of the most sensational political scandals of the period, involving accusations of corruption, the sale of judicial appointments and the misuse of funds entrusted to the Court of Chancery. Macclesfield was ultimately found guilty by the House of Lords, fined the remarkable sum of £30,000 and imprisoned in the Tower of London until payment. Thomas's selection for this important parliamentary responsibility provides a rare glimpse of his personal public career, demonstrating that he was participating in affairs extending well beyond the management of his family's Staffordshire interests.
Regrettably, Thomas's prospects were cut short. His mother had died in March 1722, shortly before the beginning of his parliamentary career, and on 12 August 1727, Thomas himself died in London, aged twenty-eight. He was buried at Trentham on 19 August, returning in death to the family's ancestral home. He never married and left no children. The circumstances and cause of his premature death have not yet been established, but the loss of a young son and brother at the outset of what promised to be a distinguished public career must have been deeply felt within the family. His eldest brother John went on to become 1st Earl Gower in 1746. Through the latter's descendants, the family eventually acquired the marquessate of Stafford and the dukedom of Sutherland.
The portrait was probably commissioned during Thomas's transition from adolescence into adult public life, perhaps between his coming of age and his election to Parliament in 1722. The suggestion is particularly attractive given his youthful appearance and the formality of the composition. His mother, who lived until March 1722, his elder brother Lord Gower, or Thomas himself may have commissioned the likeness as part of a wider programme of family portraiture. The family's patronage of Kneller is independently documented. The later catalogue of pictures at Lilleshall recorded portraits by Kneller of Jane Leveson-Gower, Thomas's paternal aunt, and Evelyn Pierrepont, his sister-in-law, both explicitly described as originating from the Trentham Collection. The present painting therefore belongs to an identifiable tradition of portraiture within Thomas's immediate family, rather than resting upon an isolated or unexplained attribution.
Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646–1723) was the dominant figure in English portraiture during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Born in Lübeck and trained in the Netherlands and Italy, he settled in England during the 1670s, where he rapidly established himself as the natural successor to Sir Peter Lely. His career encompassed the courts of Charles II, James II, William III and Mary II, Queen Anne and George I. Appointed Principal Painter to the Crown, knighted in 1692 and created a baronet in 1715, Kneller achieved an extraordinary position at the summit of artistic and social life. His sitters included monarchs, statesmen, military commanders, celebrated beauties and leading intellectuals, while his famous series of Kit-Cat Club portraits immortalised some of the most influential political and literary figures of the age. The elegance of his compositions and his ability to unite an imposing public image with the individual character of the sitter ensured his continuing popularity with Britain's highest-ranking patrons.
The attribution of the present portrait to Kneller is considerable. While the painting was catalogued unequivocally under Sir G. Kneller when sold directly from the Duke of Sutherland's collection in 1948. The painting corresponds closely with the documented organisation of Kneller's highly productive studio; the sensitive modelling of Thomas's youthful face, and the broader execution of the surrounding drapery, is consistent with such a collaborative process. The painting here is accordingly presented as Sir Godfrey Kneller and studio.
The painting's subsequent descent forms one of its most compelling historical associations. The Leveson-Gower family's ancestral portraits constituted an important component of the collection later inherited by their descendants, the Dukes of Sutherland. As the family rose to unprecedented wealth during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, its collection expanded considerably, ultimately embracing distinguished examples of British portraiture alongside major continental Old Masters. Under George Granville Leveson-Gower, subsequently 1st Duke of Sutherland, the family became associated with one of Britain's most celebrated private collections. Its holdings included works by Titian, Van Dyck, Murillo, Guercino, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Romney and Angelica Kauffman. The English pictures and ancestral portraits were particularly associated with Trentham, while the celebrated Sutherland Gallery at Stafford House, London, (later Lancaster House) became one of the capital's great private galleries.
During the nineteenth century Trentham itself was transformed into a spectacular Italianate mansion by Sir Charles Barry, architect of the new Palace of Westminster. Its imposing façades, grand entrance, orangery, sculpture gallery and elaborate formal gardens made it one of the most admired country houses of Victorian England. The magnificence of the Sutherland family's residences was matched by the quality of their art collections, which attracted the attention of distinguished scholars and visitors. Our painting descended within the family until sold by George Granville Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 5th Duke of Sutherland, in 1948.
This exceptional portrait thus preserves far more than the likeness of an elegant young gentleman. It provides an intimate connection with the early Georgian world of political privilege, dynastic marriage and aristocratic patronage, commemorating a promising parliamentarian whose life ended at only twenty-eight. Its historical significance is amplified by the great house of Trentham, and the magnificent collections assembled by successive generations of the Dukes of Sutherland. Few surviving portraits of this period unite such a clearly identifiable sitter, compelling family history, distinguished artistic tradition and documented aristocratic provenance. The painting stands as a remarkable survivor of the ancestral portrait tradition associated with Trentham Hall, one of the lost great houses of England, and of a family collection that ranked among the most celebrated in the country.
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