Richard Moreton, Esq. of Tackley with His Nephew and Niece John and Susanna Weyland

Devis was an accomplished painter of single-figure portraits and “conversation pieces”—informal group portraits of family members or friends. In this painting, Richard Moretan looks up from his book, as if our arrival has interrupted his reading. He and his niece and nephew are painted with crisp precision, surrounded by softly painted, well-manicured parkland. Moretan gestures towards the fish in his niece’s basket, or perhaps at the basket itself—a distinctive object made by Cree Indians in North America.

Image Caption

Arthur Devis, Richard Moreton, Esq. of Tackley with His Nephew and Niece John and Susanna Weyland, 1757, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, A gift from the Estate of Florence Cluett Chambers, 2001.1.6

Provenance

John Weyland (1744-1825), Woodeaton, Oxon; by descent to Capt. Mark Ulick Weyland, Woodeaton, Oxon, his great-grandson (his sale, Christie’s, 19 December 1913, no. 11, as Early English School – Portrait of Richard Moreton, sold to Agnew); [Thos. Agnew & Co., London, sold to M. Knoedler & Co., London and New York]; [M. Knoedler & Co., New York, sold to Carstairs, July 1914] [John Haseltine Carstairs (1914-d.1934); Mrs. Gertrude R. Carstairs, his wife, by descent (1934-1935, sold through M. Knoedler & Co.); [M. Knoedler & Co, New York, sold to Cluett, 19 December 1935]; George A. Cluett, Williamstown, Mass. (1935-d.1955); Florence Cluett Chambers, his daughter, by descent (1955-d.1999, by gift of her estate to the Clark Art Institute, 2001); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2001.