drawing; sketch-book

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Object Type: drawing; sketch-book
Museum number: 1897,0813.7.1-58
Description: Sketchbook bound in calf with blind tooling on, containing 58 numbered drawings; with studies after portraits, most of which presumably after Kneller; also unidentified men, women and children. Sitters include: Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macklesfield; Margaret, Countess of Hardwicke (after Kneller); John Montague, 2nd Duke of Montague (after Kneller); James Craggs the Younger (after Kneller); Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin (after Kneller); Edmund Dunch (after Kneller); Joseph Addison (after Kneller); the Hon. Elizabeth Mohun (after Kneller); John Cutts, 1st Lord Cutts (after Kneller); Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough; Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 1st Duke and 7th Earl of Dorset; Algernon Capel, 2nd Earl of Essex; Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax; Sir John Vanbrugh; Sir Samuel Garth; Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham; Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond Most in pen and black or brown ink with grey wash, heightened with white, a few in black chalk, one a brush drawing; on blue-grey paper
Producer name: Drawn by: Edward Byng; Drawn by: Robert Byng; After: Sir Godfrey Kneller
School/style
Production date: 1690-1753
Materials
Technique
Dimensions: Height: 285 millimetres (covers); Width: 226 millimetres (covers)
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: The sketchbook comprises 56 leaves bound in. Most of the drawings are drawn directly on the sketch-book leaves;on the recto or verso; some are drawn on 12 additional sheets pasted onto the sketch-book leaves. One very faint sketch (on the verso of a sheet to which another has been pasted at the edge) has not been given a BM Registration Number (see opposite verso of 1897,0813.7.11). One sheet appears to have been cut out (between 1897,0813.7.49 and 1897,0813.7.50). According to ECM, 59 leaves, including insertions.
Bibliographic references: Croft-Murray 1960 / Catalogue of British Drawings in the British Museum, XVI and XVII centuries (6); Binyon 1898-1907 / Catalogue of drawings by British artists, and artists of foreign origin working in Great Britain (5)
Location: Not on display
Associated names: Portrait of: Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield; Portrait of: Margaret Yorke, Countess of Hardwicke; Portrait of: John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu; Portrait of: James Craggs the Younger; Portrait of: Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin; Portrait of: Edmund Dunch; Portrait of: Joseph Addison; Portrait of: Elizabeth Mohun; Portrait of: John Cutts, Baron Cutts of Gowran; Portrait of: Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough; Portrait of: Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset; Portrait of: Algernon Capel, 2nd Earl of Essex; Portrait of: Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax; Portrait of: Sir John Vanbrugh; Portrait of: Sir Samuel Garth; Portrait of: Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham; Portrait of: Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond
Acquisition name
Previous owner: Previous owner/ex-collection: Elizabeth Wray; Previous owner/ex-collection: Robert Bateman Wray I; Previous owner/ex-collection: Robert Bateman Wray II; Previous owner/ex-collection: Robert Wray; Previous owner/ex-collection: Margaret Wray; Previous owner/ex-collection: Cecil Wray Byng Wilkins Roberts
Acquisition date: 1897
Acquisition notes: The provenance of these and other drawings that descended through the Wray family has been modified by research since the publication of ECM 1960. The wills of Edward Byng and his sister Elizabeth show that she inherited a life interest in the artist’s estate and that it was then divided between her sons William Wray, Robert Bateman Wray and Charles Wray. The subsequent descent through the family is not certain, but it seems that the drawings now in the BM descended from Robert Bateman Wray to his great-granddaughter, Margaret Wray, who gave them to Cecil Wray Byng Wilkins.
Department: Prints and Drawings
Registration number: 1897,0813.7.1-58

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