This work formed part of a collection of family pictures and heirlooms of the ancient Duff family who were located for more than three centuries at their family home, Hatton Castle. The portrait descended through the family for around 185 years until it was recently sold, along with the Castle (only the second time in 700 years).
An exquisite kit-cat sized portrait of a dashing young officer wearing an elaborate scarlet coatee, sash and badge, fringed epaulettes, Prussian collar, and a greatcoat arranged across his back. The uniform and accoutrements displayed here are of an officer serving in the 12th (The East Suffolk) Regiment of Foot and the type of badge was in use up to 1842.
The dashing sitter is Robert George Duff (1817-1890), a distant cousin of the Earls of Fife, and was the second eldest of four sons of Garden Duff, 8th of Hatton, 4th of Whitehill (1779-1858) and Louisa Dunbar (1788-1865). Robert served in the British Army, 12th (The East Suffolk) Regiment of Foot, Ensign on 29th July 1836, made Lieutenant on 26th June 1838, and Captain on 25th Oct 1842. He retired the same year he married Mary Astley (1822-1874) in London in 1847. She was the daughter of William Buckler Astley and Elizabeth Assheton-Smith, in London. He held the office of Deputy Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire sometime between 1852 and 1860. The couple lived at Wellington Lodge, Ryde, Isle of Wight, England and had four children:
- *George William Duff-Assheton-Smith (1848-1904), High Sheriff Anglesey
- Sir Charles Garden Assheton-Smith, 1st Baronet (1851/2-1914)
- Louisa Alice Duff (c.1853-1926)
- Henry Assheton Duff (1862-1939)
*In 1859, George inherited the Vaynol estates and a large fortune and he took the additional surname of Assheton-Smith. He was a great lover of wild animals and kept a number of these, including wild bears and wild white cattle, in the park at Vaynol. At his death the estates and name passed to his next brother Charles.
Duff has been portrayed here by Thomas Phillips, a leading English portrait painter who painted many of the great men of the day including scientists, artists, writers, poets and explorers, and he was professor of painting at the Royal Academy. The portrait can be accurately dated to between 1836 (upon joining the 12th Regiment of Foot) and no later than 1843, when a new type of badge was adopted (the badge portrays a scroll "Minden Gibraltar, Seringapatam" over a Laurel spray, to the centre the numerals XII, surmounted by a crown, and was in use between 1825 to 1842). The stencil on the reverse of the canvas (T. Brown, 163 High Holborn London) informs that the canvas was prepared in Sept 1835 by the well-established artist supplier Thomas Brown (c.1778-1840). Thomas Brown and son were in business from 1805/6 and were the business of choice among many professional artists claiming to have supplied all the Royal Academy’s Presidents up to that time, and that they had been the favoured servants of the Academy since its foundation (in 1841 young Brown was the first colourman to introduce oil colours in collapsible metal tubes).
The Duff family claims an origin veiled in the mists of antiquity, and there are preserved many and curious old family trees, but the most common origin derives from Fyfe Maedufl, a chief of great wealth and power, who lived about the year 834.
The portrait is striking in quality, and original condition not having undergone a lining treatment. The work is not merely a likeness – this artist who knew how to get to the heart and soul of their sitter and is a very fine example of British portraiture. Held in its original excellent condition swept frame.
Thomas Phillips was born in Warwickshire, England in 1770. He studied under the glass painter Francis Eginton and worked on the painted glass windows at St Georges Chapel, Windsor. He entered the Royal Academy schools in 1791 before being elected RA in 1808 and exhibited over 300 paintings – first history works and then portraiture. Phillips went on to become Professor of Painting in 1825. By the turn of the century, though, Phillips was attracting lucrative sitters and a rapid advance in his fortune saw him paint the Prince of Wales in 1806. In the following years he portrayed many of the celebrities of the day including the poets Blake and Byron. He was in 1825 the Royal Academy's professor of painting. He published his Lectures on the History and Principles of Painting in 1833. A fellow of the Royal Society and Society of Antiquaries and founding member of the Artists' General Benevolent Institution, Phillips died in London on 20 April 1845. His portrait of Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820) sold for $82,460 in London 1993.
Provenance: By decent within the Duff family of Hatton Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Formerly known as Balquholly Castle, the 17,994 square feet mansion is a category A listed building. In the early 14th century Robert the Bruce granted the lands, then known as Loscraigie, to Patrick de Monte Alto (the Balquholly name was adopted some time before the 16th century. Records indicate there was a castle on the lands as late as the early 1500s, but likely earlier. In 1709, Alexander Duff of Hatton bought the estate from the Mowat family, who had been in residence since the early 1300s. It was further remodelled by the 8th Laird of Hatton, Garden Duff, who added the two north towers and renamed it Hatton Castle in 1815.
Measurements: Height 122cm, Width 101cm, Depth 10cm framed (Height 48”, Width 39.75”, Depth 4” framed)
