To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com



The portrait slightly postdates Zincke’s appointment as Cabinet Painter to Frederick Prince of Wales (1732) and would have been made when Zincke was approaching the height of his powers as an enamellist. His dominance of the market for portrait enamels was secured when his master, Charles Boit, was forced to flee England to avoid imprisonment for debt in 1714. By the 1720s, Zincke was busy working for the Royal family, his affable nature thawing even George II’s aversion to portraiture. The king also admired Zincke’s remarkable craftsmanship, commenting that his portraits were both ‘beautiful and like’.

At the time this portrait was executed, Zincke was busy with court sittings, having completed a set of family portraits for George II and Queen Caroline. This set of enamel portraits, now part of the Royal Collection, include likenesses of the King and Queen, Princesses Mary, Amelia, Anne and Caroline and even William IV, Prince of Orange who married Princess Anne in 1734. Zincke had a relatively short career as his eyesight deteriorated rapidly in the 1740s and was forced to retire, making this portrait, by its date, one of his final enamels.

The present work was part of the collection sold in 1915 from Frognal House at Chislehurst in Kent. It possibly portrays Thomas Townshend (1701-1780), an MP who sat in the House of Commons for 52 years. Frognal House was purchased by Thomas in 1752 and became the residence of his son, Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney, after whom Sydney, Australia was named.