Hero, Ursula, and Beatrice in Leonato's Garden (act 3, scene 1 from Much Ado About Nothing)

Creator:
Reverend Matthew William Peters
Date:
1788–1789
Hero, Ursula, and Beatrice in Leonato's Garden (act 3, scene 1 from Much Ado About Nothing)

Object Information

Date:
1788–1789
Medium:
oil on canvas
Dimensions:
Credit:
Gift of Alex C. Speyer, Jr., Darthea Speyer, and Nora Fromboluti
Copyright:
Image © Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

Provenance

Reverend Matthew William Peters [1742-1814], England; commissioned by Alderman John Boydell [1720-1804], London, England, ca. 1788; sold at the Shakespeare Gallery sale, May 20, 1805, lot no. 44, to George Stainforth for Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet [1740-1810], Stratton Park, Hampshire, England [1], [2]; by descent to his son, Sir Thomas Baring, 2nd Baronet [1772-1848], Stratton Park, Hampshire, England and London, England [3]; his son, Francis Thornhill Baring, 1st Baron Northbrook [1796-1866], London, England and Stratton Park, Hampshire, England; his son, Thomas George Baring, Lord Northbrook, subsequently 1st Earl of Northbrook [1826-1904], London, England and Stratton Park, Hampshire, England; Francis Baring, 2nd Earl of Northbrook [1850-1929], Stratton Park, Hampshire, England and London, England, until 1929; sold at Stratton Park Furnishings sale, November 1929, lot no. 495 [4]. Arthur L. Nicholson, Llandaff House, Weybridge-on-Thames, Surrey, England, by May 1933 [5]; Nicholson sale, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, Inc., New York, NY, May 18, 1933, no. 33 [6]; sold to Mrs. Alexander C. Speyer [1889-1979], Pittsburgh, PA [7]; by descent to her children Alexander C. Speyer, Jr., Darthea Speyer, and Nora Fromboluti; gift to Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, December 2002 [8].

Notes:
[1]. See copy of sale information from the Getty Provenance Index in curatorial file. Sold for £57 15s.
[2]. See "Matthew William Peters, R.A., His Life and Work" by Lady Victoria Manners, London, 1913.
[3]. He lent the painting to the 1817 exhibition at the British Institution in London.
[4]. The painting, lot no. 495, was illustrated in the Stratton Park sale catalogue; the sale was held on location on November 27-29, 1929. The painting sold for 540 guineas (£567, the highest price obtained at the sale.) See curatorial file for annotated copy of the auction catalogue and press clippings reporting on the sale.
[5]. The back of the stretcher contains a sticker from an unknown sale, lot 28. This might be the sale from which Nicholson acquired the painting or a previous attempt by him to sell it before the May 1933 sale in New York.
[6]. Sale 4045, which included "Valuable Paintings, The Property of Arthur Nicolson, Esq."
[7]. According to annotated sale catalogue at the Frick Library, the painting sold to Mrs. A. C. Speyer for $400.
[8]. The painting was on loan deposit at Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, from ca. 1965. It was accessioned in February 2003.


Sources

Gower, Lord Ronald, ed. An Illustrated Descriptive and Historic Account of the Collection of the Earl of Northbrook. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1885. 42.


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* Collection Data

All collection data is based on research completed before December 2017. For details, read about the research methods of the Northbrook Provenance Project.