Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A. Portrait of James Hay (1726–1778), 15th...
Sir Joshua Reynolds P.R.A.
Plympton, Devon 1723–1792 London
Portrait of James Hay (1726–1778), 15th Earl of Erroll, full-length, in Coronation robes, holding the baton of the Lord High Constable of Scotland, a balustrade beyond
Oil on canvas
239,3 x 147,3 cm ; 94¼ x 58 in.
Catalogue Note:
‘A magnificent full length of a magnificent Colossus in cloth of gold as he appeared at the coronation’.1 Tom Taylor, in his biography of Joshua Reynolds, used these words to describe this imposing portrait of the young James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll. The coronation in question was that of King George III (1738–1820) on 22 September 1761, at which Erroll officiated as High Constable of Scotland. A few days later Horace Walpole (1717–97) wrote to George Montagu (circa 1713–80): ‘One there was, though of another species, the noblest figure I ever saw, the High Constable of Scotland, Lord Erroll, as one saw him in a space capable of counting him, one admired him.’2 Reynolds painted him in 1762, and in this splendid full-length image has emphasized his colossal stature and recalled the splendour of the occasion.
The sitter was the eldest son of William Boyd (1705–46), 4th Earl of Kilmarnock, and his wife Lady Anne Livingston (1709–47), daughter and heiress of James Livingston (d. 1723), 5th and last Earl of Linlithgow and 4th Earl of Callendar, and Lady Margaret Hay (d. 1723), daughter of John, 12th Earl of Erroll (1644–1704). The earldom of Kilmarnock dated from 1661, and the family seat was Dean Castle. The 4th Earl was a fervent supporter of the Jacobite cause and when Prince Charles Stuart (1720–88) landed in Scotland in 1745, he rallied to his cause. At the celebrated battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746, he led Prince Charles's Horse Grenadier Guards. On the opposing side were the Duke of Cumberland's troops, which included Lord Kilmarnock's son James, the sitter in this portrait, who served in the Scots Fusiliers. The Jacobites were routed, Kilmarnock was captured, tried for high treason and beheaded on Tower Hill on 18 August 1746, and the family estates and his titles were forfeited.
In 1752, although the Kilmarnock title remained forfeited, James was permitted to recover the Kilmarnock lands, which he subsequently sold to the Earl of Glencairn. On the death of his maternal great-aunt Mary Hay, 14th Countess of Erroll, on 19 August 1758, he inherited the earldom of Erroll and changed his surname from Boyd to Hay. He thereby also inherited the hereditary office of Lord High Constable of Scotland. Painted a couple of years later, this portrait commemorates the reinstatement of the sitter’s family after his father's execution and the assumption of the earldom, while its coronation robes recall his role at the coronation of George III.
On 15 September 1749 he married Rebecca (d. 1761), daughter of Alexander Lockhart, Lord Covington, by whom he had one daughter, Mary (b. 1754), who married General John Scott (1725–75), of Balcomie. In 1762, he married a second time, Isabella (1747–1808), daughter of Sir William Carr of Etal, Northumberland, by whom he had several children, including George (1767–98), who succeeded to the Earldom on 3 July 1778, and William (1772–1891), who became 17th Earl of Erroll on 14 June 1798. The Earl's grandson, William George (1801–46), 18th Earl of Erroll was created Baron Kilmarnock in the peerage of the United Kingdom in 1831.
Erroll sat for this portrait in March and April 1762 and Reynolds charged 100 guineas, an amount which was still outstanding at the time of his death in 1778. Payment was finally received in 1783. Reynolds also painted Erroll’s second wife Isabella, once in about 1761, before her marriage (Worcester Art Museum, Worcester)3 and again in 1763, as Countess of Erroll (Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, Glasgow).4 There also appears to be an untraced portrait of Hay’s first wife Rebecca.5
Note on Provenance
The portrait hung for many years at Slains Castle, built around 1600 by the 9th Earl of Erroll, which sits on a spectacular cliff top site overlooking the North Sea. Dr Johnson visited Slains on his Scottish Tour in 1773 and Boswell recorded how he and Dr Johnson were taken to the drawing room for coffee after dinner: ‘This room is ornamented with a number of prints, and with a whole length portrait of Lord Erroll by Sir Joshua Reynolds. This led Dr Johnson and me to talk of our amiable and elegant friend’ (see Literature).
The portrait was later acquired by the London dealer Arthur Ruck, who sold it in 1923 (together with a portrait by Gainsborough) to Lord Lee of Fareham, a celebrated collector of pictures whose collection was catalogued by Tancred Borenius in 1923. In 1930, Lee sold the picture to the celebrated dealer Joseph Duveen for £5,000. The work was acquired in 1965 by the American industrialist Norton Simon, and it entered the collection of the Norton Simon Foundation before being de-accessioned in 1973.
1 Leslie and Taylor 1865, vol. I, p. 218, n...
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Sir Joshua Reynolds P.R.A.
Plympton, Devon 1723–1792 London
Portrait of James Hay (1726–1778), 15th Earl of Erroll, full-length, in Coronation robes, holding the baton of the Lord High Constable of Scotland, a balustrade beyond
Oil on canvas
239,3 x 147,3 cm ; 94¼ x 58 in.
Catalogue Note:
‘A magnificent full length of a magnificent Colossus in cloth of gold as he appeared at the coronation’.1 Tom Taylor, in his biography of Joshua Reynolds, used these words to describe this imposing portrait of the young James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll. The coronation in question was that of King George III (1738–1820) on 22 September 1761, at which Erroll officiated as High Constable of Scotland. A few days later Horace Walpole (1717–97) wrote to George Montagu (circa 1713–80): ‘One there was, though of another species, the noblest figure I ever saw, the High Constable of Scotland, Lord Erroll, as one saw him in a space capable of counting him, one admired him.’2 Reynolds painted him in 1762, and in this splendid full-length image has emphasized his colossal stature and recalled the splendour of the occasion.
The sitter was the eldest son of William Boyd (1705–46), 4th Earl of Kilmarnock, and his wife Lady Anne Livingston (1709–47), daughter and heiress of James Livingston (d. 1723), 5th and last Earl of Linlithgow and 4th Earl of Callendar, and Lady Margaret Hay (d. 1723), daughter of John, 12th Earl of Erroll (1644–1704). The earldom of Kilmarnock dated from 1661, and the family seat was Dean Castle. The 4th Earl was a fervent supporter of the Jacobite cause and when Prince Charles Stuart (1720–88) landed in Scotland in 1745, he rallied to his cause. At the celebrated battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746, he led Prince Charles's Horse Grenadier Guards. On the opposing side were the Duke of Cumberland's troops, which included Lord Kilmarnock's son James, the sitter in this portrait, who served in the Scots Fusiliers. The Jacobites were routed, Kilmarnock was captured, tried for high treason and beheaded on Tower Hill on 18 August 1746, and the family estates and his titles were forfeited.
In 1752, although the Kilmarnock title remained forfeited, James was permitted to recover the Kilmarnock lands, which he subsequently sold to the Earl of Glencairn. On the death of his maternal great-aunt Mary Hay, 14th Countess of Erroll, on 19 August 1758, he inherited the earldom of Erroll and changed his surname from Boyd to Hay. He thereby also inherited the hereditary office of Lord High Constable of Scotland. Painted a couple of years later, this portrait commemorates the reinstatement of the sitter’s family after his father's execution and the assumption of the earldom, while its coronation robes recall his role at the coronation of George III.
On 15 September 1749 he married Rebecca (d. 1761), daughter of Alexander Lockhart, Lord Covington, by whom he had one daughter, Mary (b. 1754), who married General John Scott (1725–75), of Balcomie. In 1762, he married a second time, Isabella (1747–1808), daughter of Sir William Carr of Etal, Northumberland, by whom he had several children, including George (1767–98), who succeeded to the Earldom on 3 July 1778, and William (1772–1891), who became 17th Earl of Erroll on 14 June 1798. The Earl's grandson, William George (1801–46), 18th Earl of Erroll was created Baron Kilmarnock in the peerage of the United Kingdom in 1831.
Erroll sat for this portrait in March and April 1762 and Reynolds charged 100 guineas, an amount which was still outstanding at the time of his death in 1778. Payment was finally received in 1783. Reynolds also painted Erroll’s second wife Isabella, once in about 1761, before her marriage (Worcester Art Museum, Worcester)3 and again in 1763, as Countess of Erroll (Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, Glasgow).4 There also appears to be an untraced portrait of Hay’s first wife Rebecca.5
Note on Provenance
The portrait hung for many years at Slains Castle, built around 1600 by the 9th Earl of Erroll, which sits on a spectacular cliff top site overlooking the North Sea. Dr Johnson visited Slains on his Scottish Tour in 1773 and Boswell recorded how he and Dr Johnson were taken to the drawing room for coffee after dinner: ‘This room is ornamented with a number of prints, and with a whole length portrait of Lord Erroll by Sir Joshua Reynolds. This led Dr Johnson and me to talk of our amiable and elegant friend’ (see Literature).
The portrait was later acquired by the London dealer Arthur Ruck, who sold it in 1923 (together with a portrait by Gainsborough) to Lord Lee of Fareham, a celebrated collector of pictures whose collection was catalogued by Tancred Borenius in 1923. In 1930, Lee sold the picture to the celebrated dealer Joseph Duveen for £5,000. The work was acquired in 1965 by the American industrialist Norton Simon, and it entered the collection of the Norton Simon Foundation before being de-accessioned in 1973.
1 Leslie and Taylor 1865, vol. I, p. 218, n...
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