Marquess of Buckingham

This finely painted gentleman is by the hand of the Scottish artist George Bruce who began his artistic career in Edinburgh as an assistant to Samuel Houghton. It was fortunate that Bruce was a diligent pupil as he quickly needed to step in to run the business single-handedly when Houghton was incapacitated in 1792. Houghton’s death within the year not only saw Bruce acquire the silhouette business but he also married Houghton’s widow. Bruce’s career as a silhouettist had its ups and downs and lasted until his death in 1848.

A label on the reverse of this profile names the sitter as George Nugent-Temple Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham. Research though suggests that the sitter is more likely to be his son, the multiple-barrelled Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, also known as Marquess of Buckingham. This would have been a prestigious commission for Bruce and it is one that he painstakingly executed as the profile is well painted with good costume and hair detailing.

Temple was an elected MP, Privy Councillor and later a Knight of the Garter. He married an heiress, their wealth coming from inherited estates in Jamaica and led an extravagant lifestyle making free with his wife’s inheritance.

The silhouette is set behind domed glass in a decorative gilt wood frame with a provenance label reverse.