Sampson Towgood Roch, Portrait of Samuel Francis Dashwood, 1799

Chicago:

Maggie Keenan, “Sampson Towgood Roch, Portrait of Samuel Francis Dashwood, 1799,” 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. 3, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024), https://doi.org/10.37764/8322.5.1492.

MLA:

Keenan, Maggie. “Sampson Towgood Roch, Portrait of Samuel Francis Dashwood, 1799,” 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. 3, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2024. doi: 10.37764/8322.5.1492

See the artist’s biography in volume 4.

This portrait depicts Samuel Francis Dashwood (1773–1826) of Nottinghamshire, England. Signed by the Irish artist Sampson Towgood Roch and dated 1799, the portrait may have been commissioned ahead of Dashwood’s appointment as rector of Stanford Hall in 1800. Dashwood was baptized on June 4, 1773, the son of Charles Vere and Diana Dashwood.¹ He grew up among the gentry,² raised in the stately Stanford Hall, acquired by his father. The house still stands today and is now England’s Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC), which accommodates injured servicemen and women.³

Roch painted this portrait of Dashwood with a minimal palette: Dashwood’s round head is a pool of pink, and his simple black coat further accentuates his monochromatic face. His profile is enveloped by subtle shades of pink and orange. Roch defines Dashwood’s features, such as his almond-shaped eyes and the exaggerated curve of his lips, with light browns and pinks. The only black pigments are in his pupils and coat. The effect imparts a piercing, owl-like quality to Dashwood’s eyes, his pupils popping from the light amber color of his irises. His jacket contains pale blue hatching, which indicates hair powder that has fallen on his shoulder and highlights the edges of the coat’s lapels and buttons.

Dashwood married Lydia Boughton Lister in 1803 and had four children: Lydia Diana, Sophia, Maria, and Samuel Vere.⁴ Dashwood was the first clergyman in his immediate family, but not the last. After his death in 1826, his only son assumed his post as rector of Stanford Hall. Dashwood’s grandson and great-grandson continued the tradition.⁵ Not only that, but they each carried with them the same family heirloom: this portrait miniature. Provenance research has enabled us to trace the portrait all the way back to Dashwood; it passed down through the generations until it sold at auction after the death of Dashwood’s great-grandson the Reverend Robert Vere Lewes Dashwood in 1949, 150 years after Dashwood first sat for Roch.⁶

Notes

1. Southwell and Nottingham Church History Project, “Stanford on Soar: St. John the Baptist,” accessed July 14, 2022, https://southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/stanford-on-soar/hhistory.php.

2. Samuel Francis Dashwood’s third cousin was Sir George Dashwood, 4th Baronet Dashwood. His great-great-grandfather, Sir Robert Dashwood, created the English title in 1684.

3. See “Stanford Hall: £300m Military Rehab Centre Work Starts,” BBC News, April 14 2016, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-36043072. For more information on the history of Stanford Hall, see Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre, “Facts & Figures: Gallery” and “Facts & Figures: Archive Material,” accessed July 14, 2022, https://www.thednrc.org.uk/facts-figures/gallery.aspx and https://www.thednrc.org.uk/facts-figures/archive-material.

4. “Samuel Francis Dashwood,” Charles Mosley, Burke’s Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th ed., 3 vols. (Wilmington, DE: Burke’s Peerage, 2003), digitized on Darryl Lundy, “The Peerage,” last modified on March 24, 2009, https://www.thepeerage.com/p2916.htm#i29157.

5. Mosley, Burke’s Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage. Samuel Vere Dashwood (1803–1876) was rector of Stanford Hall; his son Robert Lewes Dashwood (1840–1912) was a clergyman in London; and his son Robert Vere Lewes Dashwood (1869–1949) was also a rector in Somerset.

6. Other Dashwood family miniatures in this sale included portraits by the artists William Grimaldi (English, 1751–1830), Sophia Smith (English, active 1760–1767), Christian Friedrich Zincke (German, ca. 1684–1767), William Prewett (English, active 1730–1750), and Jeremiah Meyer (German, 1735–1789). See Sotheby’s “Catalogue of Fine Sicilian Jewellery, Objects of Vertu, Fine Portrait Miniatures,” the property of the late Rev. R. V. L. Dashwood, London, October 27, 1949, lots 128–137.

Probably commissioned by the sitter, Reverend Samuel Francis Dashwood (1773–1826), Stanford Hall, Nottinghamshire, England, 1799 [1];

Inherited by his wife, Lydia Boughton Dashwood (1772–1850), Stanford Hall, Nottinghamshire, England, by 1826 [2];

Probably by descent to their son, Reverend Samuel Vere Dashwood (1803–1876), Stanford Hall, Nottinghamshire, England, by 1850;

Probably by descent to his son, Reverend Robert Lewes Dashwood (1840–1912), London, England, by 1876;

Probably by descent to his son, Reverend Robert Vere Lewes Dashwood (1869–1949), Somerset, England, by 1912;

Purchased from his posthumous sale, Catalogue of Fine Sicilian Jewellery, Objects of Vertu, Fine Portrait Miniatures, Sotheby’s, London, October 27, 1949, lot 128, as Samuel Francis Dashwood, by Bayne-Powell, 1949 [3];

Robert Lane Bayne-Powell (1910–1994), by October 27, 1949;

Unknown owner, by March 24, 1952 [4];

Purchased from the unknown owner’s sale, Catalogue of Objects of Art and Vertu, Miniatures, Watches and Fans, Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, March 24, 1952, lot 46, as Portrait of Samuel Francis Dashwood, by Meikle, 1952 [5];

Unknown owner, by May 21, 1953 [6];

Purchased from the unknown owner’s sale, Catalogue of Portrait Miniatures, Rare Table Clocks, Watches, and Other Objects of Vertu, Sotheby’s, London, May 21, 1953, lot 56, as A Miniature of Samuel Francis Dashwood, by Leggatt Brothers, London, probably on behalf of Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, 1953–1958 [7];

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1958.

Notes

[1] The portrait was painted before Dashwood’s marriage in 1803.

[2] Lydia’s maiden name was Boughton Lister; she was previously married to John Tipping. According to Dashwood’s will: “I give and bequeath unto my dear wife Lydia Boughton all and singular my house / hold goods and furniture plate silver china books monies securities for money / goods cattle [illeg.] and personal estate and effects whatsoever and wheresoever.” Quoted from “Will of Reverend Samuel Francis Dashwood, Clerk of Stanford on Soar, Nottinghamshire,” August 22, 1831, National Archives, Kew, PROB 11/1789/34.

[3] “Samuel Francis Dashwood, by Samson Towgood Roch, signed and dated 1799, three-quarters sinister, gaze directed at spectator, fair hair, fresh complexion, in white cravat, and dark coat, oval, 2 7/8in.” Located at UMKC’s Miller Nichols Library and likely annotated by the Starrs. Annotated with “Bayne Powell” and “15”. According to an attached price list, Bayne Powell purchased lot 128 for £15.

[4] Listed as “different properties” in the 1952 sales catalogue.

[5] “Portrait of Samuel Francis Dashwood, by S. T. Roche, signed and dated 1799, in black coat and white stock – oval, 2¾in. high; and a portrait of a young man in brown coat – oval, 1 7/8in. high – gold brooch frame.” Located at UMKC’s Miller Nichols Library. According to Art Prices Current (1951–1952), “Meikle” bought lot 46 for £9 9s.

[6] Listed as “various properties” in the 1953 sales catalogue.

[7] “A Miniature of Samuel Francis Dashwood, by Towgood Roche, signed and dated 1799, head and shoulders three-quarters sinister, gaze directed at spectator, grey curly hair and wearing white cravat and coat, 2 3/4in.; and another of an Officer, by Richard Crosse, head and shoulders three-quarters dexter, powdered hair en queue, wearing red coat with blue and gold facings, 1/2in., in gold and enamel frame.” Located at UMKC’s Miller Nichols Library and likely annotated by the Starrs. Annotated with circled lot number, “£10” and “28 [illegible]”. According to an attached price list, Leggatt bought lot 56 for £10. The price list is annotated with Leggatt’s name underlined with a dash next to it. Archival research has shown that Leggatt Brothers served as purchasing agents for the Starrs. See correspondence between Betty Hogg and Martha Jane Starr, May 15 and June 3, 1950, Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.

Ross E. Taggart, The Starr Collection of Miniatures in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1971), no. 164, p. 56, (repro.), as Samuel Francis Dashwood.