MANNER OF WILLIAM AIKMAN (SCOTTISH 1682-1731)

PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF LORD JOHN KERR

MANNER OF WILLIAM AIKMAN (SCOTTISH 1682-1731)
Marriage portrait of William Kerr, 3rd Marquess of Lothian
Oil on canvas
126 x 100cm (49 1/2 x 39 1/4in)

Inscribed William / 3 Marqi of Lothian upper left; inscribed with the Lothian Newbattle Abbey
inventory number 51 lower left

PROVENANCE:
William and Margaret Kerr, 3rd Marquess and Marchioness of Lothian
Thence by descent

Painted in the first decade of the eighteenth century, this and the previous lot are probably a pair of marriage portraits. William Kerr, 3rd Marquess of Lothian (c. 1690-1767) married Margaret Nicholson some time before 1710

William Kerr succeeded his father (also William Kerr) to the Marquessate of Lothian in 1722. He was Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 1732-1738, Knight of the Thistle in 1734 and Lord Clerk Register 1739-1756. He was a member of the Premier Lodge of England, the first Masonic Lodge to be created.
After the death of his first wife Margaret in 1759 he married his cousin Jean Janet Kerr in 1760.