Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/james-latham-330" aria-label="More by James Latham" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">James Latham</a>
Rt Hon Sir Capel Molyneux
Purchased 1947
actions: postures and motions
adults
clothing and personal items
coat
document - non-specific
individuals: male
landscape
man
Molyneux, Capel, The Rt Hon. Sir,
named individuals
objects
people
politician, Member of Parliament
portraits
public service
reading, writing, printed matter
standing
wooded
work and occupations
<p>Sir Capel Molyneux (1717-1797) of Castle Dillon, Co. Armagh, succeeded his elder brother as 3rd Baronet in 1738. It is likely that the portrait</p><p>was painted soon afterwards to mark this event - so the later inscription may record its correct date. The sitter holds a paper inscribed ‘Plan of Improvements’, perhaps to suggest his lofty aspirations in public life. Molyneux was Member of Parliament for Dublin University 1769-76. Latham was the leading Irish portrait painter of the early eighteenth century. He studied in Antwerp in the 1720s and brought back a sense of lively Baroque</p><p>composition</p><p>, bold and colourful brushwork.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2010</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
The Rt Hon. Sir Capel Molyneux
support: 1346 × 1080 mm
Purchased 1947
<p>Sir Capel Molyneux (1717-1797) of Castle Dillon, Co. Armagh, succeeded his elder brother as 3rd Baronet in 1738. It is likely that the <a data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a></p>
<p> was painted soon afterwards to mark this event - so the later inscription may record its correct date. The sitter holds a paper inscribed ‘Plan of Improvements’, perhaps to suggest his lofty aspirations in public life. Molyneux was Member of Parliament for Dublin University 1769-76. Latham was the leading Irish portrait painter of the early eighteenth century. He studied in Antwerp in the 1720s and brought back a sense of lively <a data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/b/baroque" title="Glossary definition for 'Baroque'"><span>Baroque</span></a></p>
<p> <a data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a></p>
<p>, bold and colourful brushwork.</p>

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2010-02-18T00:00:00
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<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/latham-the-rt-hon-sir-capel-molyneux-n05801" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05801</span></a> <b>The Rt Hon. Sir Capel Molyneux 3rd Bart</b> 1740</p>
<p>Oil on canvas 1346 x 1080 (53 x 42 1/2)<br/>Inscribed ‘Rt. Honse. Sr. Capel Molyneux Bart.<br/>‘Member for the University 1740’ upper centre left, probably in a late eighteenth-century hand<br/>Purchased (Grant-in-Aid) 1947</p>
<p>PROVENANCE ...;? by descent to Mrs J.E.M. Talbot, only daughter of Sir Capel Molyneux, 7th Bart; first recorded at Castle Dillon 1913, but not in Castle Dillon sale 2–4 October 1923; ...; anon. sale, Knight, Frank &amp; Rutley, 5 March 1926 (304) bt Agnew, from whom bt by Tate Gallery</p>
<p>EXHIBITED <i>Old Masters</i>, Agnew's June 1933 (40 as by William Hoare)</p>
<p>Sir Capel Molyneux (1718–97) of Castle Dillon, Co. Armagh, was one of the sixteen children of Sir Thomas, 1st Bart, Physician General to the Army in Ireland and President of the College of Physicians of Ireland, and his wife Catherine Howard. He attended Trinity College, Dublin, 1734–7, and succeeded his brother as 3rd Bart in 1739. He was MP for Dublin University 1769–76, which gives a <i>post quem</i> date for the inscription, which, however, there is no reason to doubt, as the portrait was probably painted in 1740 to mark the sitter's recent accession to the title.</p>
<p>The portrait is first recorded in an inventory of pictures at Castle Dillon, the property of Mrs Talbot, taken in October 1913 (kindly communicated by Miss Eileen Black, Ulster Museum). Then and subsequently attributed to William Hoare, it was reattributed to Latham by the Knight of Glin in 1973.</p>
<p>There is a large group portrait of Sir Capel Molyneux and his four children by John Astley, signed and dated 1758, also originally from Castle Dillon (on permanent loan to the Ulster Museum, Belfast), in which the likeness corresponds well with this portrait.</p>
<p>
<b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Elizabeth Einberg and Judy Egerton, <i>The Age of Hogarth: British Painters Born 1675-1709</i>, Tate Gallery Collections, II, London 1988</p>
</div>

Catalogue entry
2014-01-14T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults clothing and personal items coat document - non-specific individuals: male landscape man Molyneux, Capel, The Rt Hon. Sir, named individuals objects people politician, Member of Parliament portraits public service reading, writing, printed matter standing wooded work and occupations