C. Sheperd

Charles Lee Esq.

1775

'Portrait of British Naval Officer' is attributed to the British painter and engraver Daniel Orme (1766-c.1832) based on the scratched inscription verso, as well as its similarity to Orme’s known engraving oeuvre. The oil on tin portrait bears the scratched inscription “D. Orme” verso, which in the absence of contravening evidence as to the artist is significant in attributing the work to Orme. Katherine Coombs, Curator of Paintings at the Word & Image Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the writer of the Dictionary of National Biography article on Orme, states that Orme is “so obscure an artist that if his name is indeed scratched on the [tin] that seems good evidence for it being so.” Additionally, Orme’s stipple engravings of prominent naval figures in oval, including John Hunter in 1792, Horatio Nelson in 1798, among others at the National Portrait Gallery, London are consistent with the style and composition of the portrait. Roger Quarm, Curator of Paintings at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich notes that Orme’s “engraved portraits of naval officers tend to be oval”. Orme is known to have issued a series of engravings by subscription that included portraits of popular naval Admirals and Officers in 1797. Two oils in the collection of the National Maritime Museum, also demonstrate Orme’s execution of naval subject matter. The sitter has been identified as a lieutenant in the British Navy wearing the “full-dress uniform for the period 1787-1812,” according to Roger Quarm. Alfred Umhey has confirmed this identification of the sitter as a “lieutenant in the uniform pattern 1787-1795, which is however worn post that date.” The medal worn around the sitter’s neck has been identified as the Sultan’s Medal for Egypt issued in 1801, by both Quarm and Umhey. The Sultan’s Medal for Egypt or the Turkish Medal for Egypt was issued in 1801 to members of the British Army and Navy by Sultan Selim...

In original ornate gilt-plaster frame. Exhibited: National Academy of Design, New York, 1883, No. 56. Ripe Enough to Gather appears to be the first painting Charles Storer exhibit...

William Roth Born 1754 Portrait of Captain George Meek Oil on canvas, signed & dated 1782 lower right Image size: 25 x 18 ½ inches (64 x 47 cm) Provenance Murray Cassy Jean Piere O...

Thomas Wood, The Abstemious Miller, 1821. Portrait of miller Thomas Wood (1719-1783), made c1773 when he was 53 years old. Wood, of Billericay in Essex, became known for his weight-l...