John Henry Frederick Bacon, A.R.A. Lifesize Family Portrait

About the Item

Our magnificent oil on canvas by John Henry Frederick Bacon, A.R.A. (1868-1914), entitled The Golden Butterfly, depicts the family of John and Julietta Boyd-Harvey at Tondu House in South Wales in 1907. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1907, no. 572. This very large painting depicts the Boyd-Harvey family on the lawn of Tondu House in South Wales, with the mountain and valley of Tondu in the background. John Bacon, an Associate of the Royal Academy, was a respected society painter and friend of the family. It was commissioned on the eve of the wedding of Georgiana, the eldest daughter. In the artistic language of the Edwardian period, the painting's title references the butterfly, a symbol of marital bliss. Note the butterfly above the heads of Mr. and Mrs. Boyd-Harvey. Bacon submitted several portraits to the Academy each year, and was skillful in created group portraits. His best known pictures are The Coronation of King Edward VII for Westminster Abbey, now in the National Portrait Gallery, and City of London Volunteers return to London from South Africa, 1900, now in the Guildhall Art Gallery, City of London. While pictures by Bacon commemorating civic events have recently appeared at auction, no group portrait painted on such a scale has yet emerged. John Boyd-Harvey was educated in Cornwall, but studied gas production under Thornton Andrews at Swansea gasworks. His brother Robert, elder by thirteen years, had established himself in South America where he had entered partnership with Colonel North, known as 'the Nitrate King' owing to his exploitation of the nitrate deposits of Chile. At the age of 21, John journeyed to join him and met his wife, Julietta Belvedere Grenadino, on the Chilean-Peruvian borders at the height of the civil war of the 1880s. By 1888 Colonel North had decided to invest in the mines of South Wales, and with a growing family, John Boyd-Harvey was relieved to accept his invitation to manage his interests there. In 1892 he was appointed General Manager and Managing Director of North's Navigation Collieries Ltd. The family moved to Tondu House, and Julietta proceeded to bring considerable Spanish flair to the Welsh Valleys. In addition to an indoor staff of seven, three governesses, Miss Mackay, Miss MacLinden, and Miss Dalton, representing Scotland, Ireland and England, were employed to educate the seven children. Julietta enjoyed a substantial income to supplement her husband's, as her uncles were cabinet ministers in the Peruvian government and she was proud of her descent from Spanish Conquistadors who were reputed to have married into the Peruvian, Inca "royal" family. When her daughter Georgiana married Amaro Duarte y Moreno, of Malaga, Spain, Julietta entertained on a scale previously unseen in the region. Effusive descriptions of the wedding appeared in the Lady's Pictorial, with illustrations of the costumes worn and a list of presents given. Bacon's portrait, which was on view in the house during the wedding breakfast, encapsulates the family's glamour and prosperity. Founded in 1650, Tondu House comprised two large estate homes plus stables and servant's quarters, and looked out over hundreds of acres. Boyd-Harvey apparently acquired the property soon after being appointed General Manager of North's Navigation Collieries Ltd. in 1892. The family is believed to have sold the property upon his retirement at the age of 52 in 1913, five years following the passing of his wife, Julieta. John passed just three years later in 1916. The property was commandeered in 1940 by the Ministry of Supply for the Pyrotechnic Research Department (PRD) to produce small to medium weapons including development of incendiary flares that were dropped on targets by Pathfinder aircraft. After the war the laboratories continued to operate until 1957. The home was demolished in 1963 by its owner, the Merthyr Mawr Estate, and its extensive land leased to a local farmer until 2001. The postcard image shown here dates from the 1900s.

Dimensions:

Height: 91 in (231.14 cm)Width: 144 in (365.76 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)

Style:

Edwardian (Of the Period)

Materials and Techniques:

Canvas,Hand-Painted

Place of Origin:

United Kingdom

Period:

1900-1909

Date of Manufacture:

1907