Provenance
Painted for the sitters' father, Sir Thomas Frankland, 6th Bt. [1750-1831], Thirkleby, Yorkshire; by descent to his granddaughter, Rosalind Alicia Frankland-Russel-Astley [d. 1900], Chequers Court, Buckinghamshire; sold c. 1896 to (Thos. Agnew & Sons, London); purchased 1896 by John H. McFadden. Presumably sold back to (Thos. Agnew & Sons, London);[1] purchased 1898 by Sir Charles Clow Tennant, 1st bt. [1823-1906], The Glen, near Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, Scotland; by descent to his grandson, Christopher Grey Tennant, 2nd baron Glenconner [1899-1983], The Glen; sold July 1923 to (Charles Carstairs for M. Knoedler & Co., London and New York);[2] purchased November 1923 by Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA.
[1] Geoffrey (later Sir Geoffrey) Agnew, _Agnew's 1817-1967_, London, 1967, 36, pl. The plate records J.H. McFadden and Sir Charles Tennant as the owners in 1896 and 1898 respectively.
[2] James Dugdale, "Sir Charles Tennant: the Story of a Victorian Collector," _Connoisseur_ 178 (1971), 11-12. A group of ten paintings was purchased by Carstairs in July 1923 and was exhibited in 1924 at Knoedler's new headquarters in New York, whence the Hoppner was purchased by Andrew Mellon shortly before the exhibition.
Accession Number
1937.1.111
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 155 x 125 cm (61 x 49 3/16 in.) | framed: 182.2 x 151.8 cm (71 3/4 x 59 3/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Tags
Painting Neoclassical & Romantic (1751–1850) Oil Painting Canvas British Color: Yellow
Background & Context
Background Story
John Hoppner (1758-1810) was a British painter known for the elegant, atmospheric portraits that make him one of the most important portrait painters of the late 18th century in England. The Frankland Sisters from 1795 depicts the two Frankland sisters in the elegant, atmospheric manner that distinguishes Hoppner's best portraits from the more formal work of his contemporaries. The 1795 date places this in Hoppner's most productive period, when he was producing the elegant, atmospheric portraits that made him the most serious rival to Lawrence and the favorite portraitist of the aristocratic families of England.
Cultural Impact
The Frankland Sisters is important in the history of British portraiture because it demonstrates the elegant, atmospheric manner that Hoppner brought to aristocratic portraiture as one of the most important portrait painters of the late 18th century in England. Hoppner's elegant, atmospheric portraits—combining aristocratic dignity with atmospheric effect—represent an important tradition in British portraiture that is distinct from the more formal tradition of Reynolds and the more dramatic tradition of Lawrence.
Why It Matters
The Frankland Sisters is Hoppner's elegant aristocratic portraiture: two sisters rendered in the atmospheric manner of one of the most important portrait painters of late 18th-century England. The 1795 portrait shows the combination of aristocratic dignity with atmospheric effect that made Hoppner the favorite of aristocratic families.
