<p>A childhood portrait of Elizabeth Sancroft (1714-1788) and her sister Catherine Sancroft (c. 1716-1780), daughters of William Sancroft of Fressingfield Hall, Suffolk and his wife Catherine Cotton, daughter of Sir John Cotton of Lenwade. painted by James Maubert was sold by Sotheby's Auctioneers in 2022 "Lot 40, Important British Paintings 1500-1850". 
</p><p>See monument in St Mary's Church, Redenhall, Norfolk, the Gawdy Hall Chapel. Source: Farrer, Edmund, Church Heraldry of Norfolk, Vol 1 (1885), p.19 <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="https://archive.org/details/churchheraldryof01farr/page/n69/mode/2up?view=theater">[1]</a>. Arms of Wogan of Gawdy Hall, in the parish of Redenhall: <i>Or, on a chief sable three martlets of the field</i> (Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.1127 "Wogan of  Rathcoffey (Castle), County Kildare, Ireland") with inescutcheon of pretence for an heiress wife: <i>Argent, on  a  chevron between  three  crosses  pattée  gules  as  many  martlets  of  the field</i> (Sancroft).  Crest:  <i>A  lion's  head  erased  gules</i>.  Motto:  <i>In Caelo Quies</i>. For  John  Wogan (1713-1778),  Esq.,  of  Gawdy  Hall  and  of  Boulston  in the  county  of  Pembroke,  South  Wales,  who  died  May  31st,  1778, aged  65.  Elizabeth Sancroft (1714-1788),  his  wife (a daughter of William Sancroft of Fressingfield Hall, Suffolk),  who  died  January  25th, 1788,  aged  74.  John  Wogan  their  son,  who  died  June  20th, 1763,  aged  27.  Elizabeth  Wogan  their  daughter,  who  died February  28th,  1773,  aged  18.  Also  the  Rev.  Gervas  Holmes, nephew  and  heir  of  John  Wogan,  who  died  February  17th,  1796, aged  54. (Text per Farrer).
</p><p>Provenance: Probably commissioned by William Sancroft (1683-1720), the sitter's father; Be descent to Sarah Wogan, daughter of Catherine Sancroft and John Wogan, who married the Rev. Gerva Holmes; Thence by descent to John Sancroft Holmes (1847-1920), Gawdy Hall. Literature
Prince Duleep Singh, Portraits in Norfolk Houses, 1927, Vol. I, p. 24, illus. opposite p. 160. Catalogue Note: The sitters were the daughters of William Sancroft of Fressingfield Hall, Suffolk and his wife Catherine, daughter of Sir John Cotton of Lenwade. The Sancrofts were a distinguished Suffolk family. William's great uncle, William Sancroft (1617-1693) was the Dean of St Paul's who masterminded the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral and who later became Archbishop of Canterbury.
</p><p>The two daughters were substantial heiresses, having inherited from their father the Suffolk manors of Fressingfield, Ufford, Chepenhall and Metfield. The eldest daughter Elizabeth married John Wogan, who came from a Pembrokeshire family and owned Gawdy Hall in Norfolk, as well as a house in Wigmore Street and at Boulton in Pembrokeshire. On the death of Elizabeth and her husband, the Suffolk estates were sold and Gawdy Hall passed to the Reverend Gervas Holmes, Vicar of Fressingfield, who married Elizabeth's daughter Sarah.
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According to George Vertue, the painter Maubert, who was probably born in Ireland, studied in Dublin with the Flemish artist Gaspar Smitz. This ambitious conversation piece is one of his finest works, comparable to the two portraits which he painted for the Bathurst family (one sold at Sotheby's on 23 June 1971). He was admired by Vertue, particularly for his ability to paint flowers - 'a good Ingenious civil man... he not only paints from the Life but is very skillful in painting of fruits &amp; flowers. his draperys are well dispos'd &amp; natural'.' (George Vertue's Notebooks, Walpole Society. Vol. XXII, 1934, p. 28).
James Maubert
circa 1725 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P,+1725-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902</div>
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