Citation
Chicago:
Blythe Sobol, “Christian Friedrich Zincke, Portrait of George Compton, later 6th Earl of Northampton, ca. 1727,” catalogue entry in Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Blythe Sobol, and Maggie Keenan, The Starr Collection of Portrait Miniatures, 1500–1850: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, vol. 1, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024), https://doi.org/10.37764/8322.5.2250.
MLA:
Sobol, Blythe. “Christian Friedrich Zincke, Portrait of George Compton, later 6th Earl of Northampton, ca. 1727,” catalogue entry. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Blythe Sobol, and Maggie Keenan. The Starr Collection of Portrait Miniatures, 1500–1850: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, edited by Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, vol. 1, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024. doi: 10.37764/8322.5.2250.
Artist's Biography
See the artist’s biography in volume 4.
Catalogue Entry
The sitter for this subdued portrait, George Compton, 6th Earl of Northampton (1692–1758), was described by the diarist and antiquarian Horace Walpole as “a very silent person.”1Romney R. Sedgwick, “Compton, Hon. George (1692–1758),” in The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1715–1754, ed. Romney R. Sedgwick (1970), online edition, https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/compton-hon-george-1692-1758. There are two known versions of this portrait in enamel: Enamel miniatures originated in France before their introduction to the English court by enamellist Jean Petitot. Enamel was prized for its gloss and brilliant coloring—resembling the sheen and saturation of oil paintings—and its hardiness in contrast to the delicacy of light sensitive, water soluble miniatures painted with watercolor. Enamel miniatures were made by applying individual layers of vitreous pigment, essentially powdered glass, to a metal support, often copper but sometimes gold or silver. Each color required a separate firing in the kiln, beginning with the color that required the highest temperature; the more colors, the greater risk that the miniature would be damaged by the process. The technique was difficult to master, even by skilled practitioners, leading to its increased cost in contrast with watercolor miniatures. by Christian Friedrich Zincke.2Christian Friedrich Zincke, George Compton, 6th Earl of Northampton, n.d., enamel on copper, 1 13/16 in. (4.6 cm), sold at Important Portrait Miniatures and Gold Boxes, Christie’s, London, November 27, 2006, lot 101, https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4818096. The miniature is described as “George Compton, 6th Earl of Northampton (1692–1758), in grey coloured velvet coat and lace cravat, long powdererd [sic] wig knotted over his right shoulder.” Both are undated, but the style of the portraits and the sitter’s attire suggest that they were likely painted in the 1720s, when Compton was in his thirties. They may date to 1727, the year he began serving in the House of Commons. As the nephew of Prime Minister Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington and cousin of noted Whig: Initially forming in England as a political faction and then as a party, Whigs supported a parliamentary system and espoused ideals of liberalism and economic protectionism. party leader Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, George Compton was well placed for a role in politics.3Sedgwick, “Compton, Hon. George.”
As a second son not poised to inherit his father’s lands and titles, Compton joined the army after leaving Eton College in 1707. He first served as cornet in the Royal Horse Guards and was later appointed guidon: One who carries a heraldic banner, also called a guidon, which was used as to identify the unit and served as a rallying point. and major in the 2nd Life Guards in 1713. By 1715, Compton joined the reserve list and devoted the following decade to developing his nascent political career.4Sedgwick, “Compton, Hon. George.” This portrait was likely painted after that date, as he appears to be in his thirties, and Zincke’s solo career only began in earnest after his teacher Charles Boit (Swedish, worked in England, 1662–1727) fled England in 1714.
Compton’s military service is subtly echoed in this portrait. He wears a campaign wig, a style first adopted during the military campaigns of the War of the Spanish Succession: Fought from 1701–1714, the War of the Spanish Succession saw European monarchs fighting to claim the Spanish throne of King Charles II, who had died without issue..5Aileen Ribeiro, Dress in Eighteenth Century Europe (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), 28. They were initially worn by soldiers seeking a less cumbersome version of the long, profusely curled peruke: Also called a periwig, a type of man’s wig often made of human or synthetic hair that was popular in the 1600s and 1700s. worn at court. Campaign wigs can be identified by the locks of hair generally worn on each shoulder, with their ends turned up and knotted. These knotted ends were called “drop locks.”6Examples of drop locks, called pattes des poches in French, are illustrated in Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert, “Perruquier, Barbier, Baigneur-Etuviste,” L’Encyclopédie: Art de l’Habillement (Paris: Inter-Livres, 2001), pl. 7, fig. 11. It is possible that this wig was a vestige of Compton’s time in the military. The wig is paired with a white lace cravat: A cravat, the precursor to the modern necktie and bowtie, is a rectangular strip of fabric tied around the neck in a variety of ornamental arrangements. Depending on social class and budget, cravats could be made in a variety of materials, from muslin or linen to silk or imported lace. It was originally called a “Croat” after the Croatian military unit whose neck scarves first caused a stir when they visited the French court in the 1660s. and a silvery gray coat deftly rendered by Zincke to evoke the sheen of velvet.
Compton served in the House of Commons from 1727 to 1754. He succeeded to the earldom of Northampton after the death of his elder brother, James Compton, 5th Earl of Northampton (1687–1754). He married Frances Payne (d. 1800) in 1748 and died without children on December 6th, 1758.7His widow, the dowager Countess Northampton, was remarried in 1761 to the royal serjeant-surgeon Claudius Amyand, who described her in a letter to Sir James Porter as “a very amiable woman with a jointure of £2500 per annum,” an attractive attribute indeed. Quoted in John Brooke, “Amyand, Claudius (1718–74), of Langleybury, Herts,” in History of Parliament, https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/amyand-claudius-1718-74.
Notes
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Romney R. Sedgwick, “Compton, Hon. George (1692–1758),” in The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1715–1754, ed. Romney R. Sedgwick (1970), online edition, https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/compton-hon-george-1692-1758.
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Christian Friedrich Zincke, George Compton, 6th Earl of Northampton, n.d., enamel on copper, 1 13/16 in. (4.6 cm), sold at Important Portrait Miniatures and Gold Boxes, Christie’s, London, November 27, 2006, lot 101, https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4818096. The miniature is described as “George Compton, 6th Earl of Northampton (1692–1758), in grey coloured velvet coat and lace cravat, long powdererd [sic] wig knotted over his right shoulder.”
Sedgwick, “Compton, Hon. George.”
Sedgwick, “Compton, Hon. George.”
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Aileen Ribeiro, Dress in Eighteenth Century Europe (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), 28.
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Examples of drop locks, called pattes des poches in French, are illustrated in Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert, “Perruquier, Barbier, Baigneur-Etuviste,” L’Encyclopédie: Art de l’Habillement (Paris: Inter-Livres, 2001), pl. 7, fig. 11.
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His widow, the dowager Countess Northampton, was remarried in 1761 to the royal serjeant-surgeon Claudius Amyand, who described her in a letter to Sir James Porter as “a very amiable woman with a jointure of £2500 per annum,” an attractive attribute indeed. Quoted in John Brooke, “Amyand, Claudius (1718–74), of Langleybury, Herts,” in History of Parliament, https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/amyand-claudius-1718-74.
Provenance
Purchased by Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, by 1958;
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1958.
References
Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 29, p. 15, (repro.), as George Compton, Marquis of Northampton.
Important Portrait Miniatures and Gold Boxes (London: Christie’s, November 27, 2006), under lot 101, https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4818096.
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