John Lindsay Lucas, British 1807-1874- Portrait of Sir Joshua Rowe, C.B., seated three-quarter length to the left, in green judicial robes, a curtain and column behind; oil on canvas, 142.2 x 111.5 cm. Engraved: in lithograph by James Henry Lynch...

John Lindsay Lucas,

British 1807-1874-

Portrait of Sir Joshua Rowe, C.B., seated three-quarter length to the left, in green judicial robes, a curtain and column behind;

oil on canvas, 142.2 x 111.5 cm.

Engraved: in lithograph by James Henry Lynch (fl.1815-1865), published by Day & Co. (see British Museum, London, no.1943,0410.2312), c.1824-65.

Provenance: With G. Trollope & Sons, London.; Private Collection, UK (by descent).

Exhibited: London, Royal Academy, 1853, no.527.

Literature: Arthur Lucas, 'J.L. Portrait Painter', 1910, p.112, illustrated plate LII.

Note: Sir Joshue Rowe (1797-1874) was Chief Justice of Jamaica from 1832 to c.1856. He was the eldest son of Joshua Rowe Esquire of Torpoint House, Cornwall and married Frances Bate in 1823 (see the following lot). In 1818, he was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1818, was called to the bar in 1826, and became Judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court in 1835. He died at 10 Queen Anne Street, London on 30 October 1874 (Charles R. Dodd, The Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britian and Ireland (1846) p. 347). There is a stained glass window in Truro Cathedral which was erected in affectionate remembrance by his widow after his death. There is also a monument dedicated to him in St James's Church at Torpoint in Cornwall.

John Lucas began his career as an apprentice to mezzotint engraver Samuel William Reynolds (1773-1835). When his tenure with Reynolds ended in the late 1820s, Lucas established a practice as a painter. He exhibited his first portrait at the Royal Academy in 1828 and thereafter gained fame as a fashionable society portraitist. Lucas often exhibited his works publicly, showing ninety-six portraits at the Royal Academy from 1828 to the time of his death. Among his sitters were Prince Albert and the Duke of Wellington. A full list of his sitters is in his biography by his son, Arthur Lucas (see literature). The present work was painted in 1848.
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