Samuel Cotes
An Officer, probably Lieutenant General William Amherst (1732-1781), wearing scarlet jacket and matching waistcoat, his arms folded over a green beribboned sword hilt, 1770
Watercolour and bodycolour on ivory
Oval, 3 3/8 in. (84 mm) high
Signed and dated ‘S C/ 1770’
Philip Mould & Co.
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The sitter in this impressive portrait by Cotes has recently been identified.[1] This new identification may have been partially based on an oil portrait of Amherst dated 1781 (the year of his death, painted over ten years earlier than the present miniature) by Robert Edge Pine (1730-1788). In Pine’s oil portrait, Amherst also wears a red tunic and carries a sword, but his military credentials are signalled by the gold epaulette on his shoulder.
William Amherst was born in Sevenoaks, Kent, the son of Elizabeth Kerril and the lawyer Jeffrey Amherst. The youngest of four brothers, his eldest brother was named Sackville after Lionel Sackville, first Duke of Dorset, whose influence shaped the boys early professional careers in the army. Jeffery, born in 1717, had a long and distinguished career in the army, and was Commander-in-Chief in America during the eventful years 1758-1763. John Amherst, about a year younger than Jeffery, served in the navy, and fought both at Louisbourg and Quebec and died an admiral.
Entering the army in 1755 as an Ensign of the First Regiment of Foot Guards in 1755, he became a Lieutenant and Captain in 1757; Lieut.-Col. and Deputy Adjutant-General in America, 1759; Lieut. Col. in 1766; Colonel of the 32nd Regiment in 1775; Major-General in 1777 and Lieut.-Gen. in 1779. He had accompanied his brother Jeffery to Louisbourg in 1758, and afterwards served with him during the operations which terminated in the capture of Montreal and the cession of Canada in 1760. In 1762 he was sent from New York in command of a force to attack the French who had taken St. John's, Newfoundland.
This 1770 portrait dates to after his return to England and a more peaceful chapter in his life. In 1766 he had married Elizabeth Patterson, who inherited land at Ryde on the Isle of Wight. In 1769 the couple built a fine house named St John’s after William’s victory in Newfoundland. Between 1768 and 1774 William was MP for Launceston and was appointed Adjutant-General to the Forces in 1778.
In 1776, his wife Elizabeth died, and with William’s death in 1781, their children William Pitt Amherst (later Earl Amherst, of Aracan) and his two sisters moved to Kent under the care of their uncle Jeffrey Amherst, first Baron Amherst (1717–1797). His son, William Pitt, succeeded to the peerage conferred on Jeffery Amherst, as the latter left no children. William had a distinguished career, having been sent as ambassador to China, and, afterwards, as Governor-General to India, being rewarded with an earldom.
The attention to detail and ambitious composition seen in this portrait demonstrates Cotes’s ability to emulate the large oil portraits of the most fashionable artist of the day, Sir Joshua Reynolds, ‘in little’. Samuel Cotes followed his brother Francis into painting as a profession, leaving behind his medical training to pursue this financially lucrative route.
Called in his obituary ‘the first miniature painter of his time’, Samuel strived to be the best within his profession. In 1769, a year before this impressive portrait was painted, he exhibited an extremely large miniature of the famous tragic actress Mrs. Yates in the role of Electra [Victoria and Albert Museum, London]. Knowing that his miniature would be shown in the same room in the Royal Academy as Reynolds’ oil portraits, this was an attempt to compete directly with large paintings. This portrait of Amherst skillfully portrays him as a military man in civilian clothing – the scarlet clothing and sword a nod to his soldierly achievements.
[1] We are grateful for the suggested identification provided by the military historian Christopher Bryant.
The sitter in this impressive portrait by Cotes has recently been identified.[1] This new identification may have been partially based on an oil portrait of Amherst dated 1781 (the year of his death, painted over ten years earlier than the present miniature) by Robert Edge Pine (1730-1788). In Pine’s oil portrait, Amherst also wears a red tunic and carries a sword, but his military credentials are signalled by the gold epaulette on his shoulder.
William Amherst was born in Sevenoaks, Kent, the son of Elizabeth Kerril and the lawyer Jeffrey Amherst. The youngest of four brothers, his eldest brother was named Sackville after Lionel Sackville, first Duke of Dorset, whose influence shaped the boys early professional careers in the army. Jeffery, born in 1717, had a long and distinguished career in the army, and was Commander-in-Chief in America during the eventful years 1758-1763. John Amherst, about a year younger than Jeffery, served in the navy, and fought both at Louisbourg and Quebec and died an admiral.
Entering the army in 1755 as an Ensign of the First Regiment of Foot Guards in 1755, he became a Lieutenant and Captain in 1757; Lieut.-Col. and Deputy Adjutant-General in America, 1759; Lieut. Col. in 1766; Colonel of the 32nd Regiment in 1775; Major-General in 1777 and Lieut.-Gen. in 1779. He had accompanied his brother Jeffery to Louisbourg in 1758, and afterwards served with him during the operations which terminated in the capture of Montreal and the cession of Canada in 1760. In 1762 he was sent from New York in command of a force to attack the French who had taken St. John's, Newfoundland.
This 1770 portrait dates to after his return to England and a more peaceful chapter in his life. In 1766 he had married Elizabeth Patterson, who inherited land at Ryde on the Isle of Wight. In 1769 the couple built a fine house named St John’s after William’s victory in Newfoundland. Between 1768 and 1774 William was MP for Launceston and was appointed Adjutant-General to the Forces in 1778.
In 1776, his wife Elizabeth died, and with William’s death in 1781, their children William Pitt Amherst (later Earl Amherst, of Aracan) and his two sisters moved to Kent under the care of their uncle Jeffrey Amherst, first Baron Amherst (1717–1797). His son, William Pitt, succeeded to the peerage conferred on Jeffery Amherst, as the latter left no children. William had a distinguished career, having been sent as ambassador to China, and, afterwards, as Governor-General to India, being rewarded with an earldom.
The attention to detail and ambitious composition seen in this portrait demonstrates Cotes’s ability to emulate the large oil portraits of the most fashionable artist of the day, Sir Joshua Reynolds, ‘in little’. Samuel Cotes followed his brother Francis into painting as a profession, leaving behind his medical training to pursue this financially lucrative route.
Called in his obituary ‘the first miniature painter of his time’, Samuel strived to be the best within his profession. In 1769, a year before this impressive portrait was painted, he exhibited an extremely large miniature of the famous tragic actress Mrs. Yates in the role of Electra [Victoria and Albert Museum, London]. Knowing that his miniature would be shown in the same room in the Royal Academy as Reynolds’ oil portraits, this was an attempt to compete directly with large paintings. This portrait of Amherst skillfully portrays him as a military man in civilian clothing – the scarlet clothing and sword a nod to his soldierly achievements.
[1] We are grateful for the suggested identification provided by the military historian Christopher Bryant.
Provenance
Auction Paris, 25 March 1914, lot 12 (Collection 'H.D.'), as ‘Man in red costume holding a sword’;Sotheby's, London, 13 July 1982, lot 132