ATTRIBUTED TO LEMUEL FRANCIS ABBOTT (c.1760-1802)

ATTRIBUTED TO LEMUEL FRANCIS ABBOTT (c.1760-1802)
Portrait of Lieutenant General James Pattison of the Royal Artillery, c. 1785
oil on canvas, 30 x 25 in.; within giltwood and composition frame
The son of a London merchant, Pattison (1723-1805) entered the Royal Artillery Regiment in 1740 as a gentleman-cadet, being one of the first officer professionally educated in that arm by the newly-established Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. He served at Ghent in 1742 and at the close of the Seven Years War commanded companies of the Royal Artillery sent to serve in Portugal. In 1777, Pattison was appointed colonel-commandant of the 4th Battalion, then serving in North America. Arriving in New York, he assumed command of all artillery troops in America, with the rank of brigadier general, effective 24 September 1777. During the 1779 expedition that took Kings Ferry, he commanded the forces which took the western bank citadel of Stony Point, whose defenses he subsequently improved. Pattison's "judicious exertions" led to his appointment as "Commandant of the City and Garrison of New York" on July 5, 1779 by Sir Henry Clinton, a position he held concurrently with his role as artillery commander until 13 August 1780 with the rank of major general. Pattison excelled in his new civil-military responsibilities, until ill health forced him to return to England on 4 September 1780. This half-length portrait was probably commissioned shortly after Pattison was promoted to Lieutenant General and Commandant of the Royal Artillery Regiment. He died at his house in Hill Street, London, in 1805.
Provenance: with M. Bernard, London, 1961; anonymous sale, Sotheby's, New York, 3 November 1983 (lot 184); private collection 2016.
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