[Henry Alworth Merewether, 1832 / portrait by John Lucas]

ML 1207

fonds

1832

Graphic Materials, Paintings

403531

1 painting - oil on canvas - 92 x 71 cm, in original wood and gilt frame with elaborate moulded decorations, 120 x 99 cm

For biographical details on Henry Alworth Merewether, see 'The Dictionary of National Biography' (1894), vol. XXXVII, p. 275. He was the father of Edward Christopher Merewether, for whom see 'Australian Dictionary of Biography', vol. 5, p. 240-41. The portrait was in the possession of E.C. Merewether's descendants until its presentation to the Mitchell Library

The portrait was inherited from their father, the late Mr Thomas Frederick William Merewether Heath, and before that through the latter's grandmother's family (she was Augusta Eliza Mitchell Busby, daughter of Edward Christopher Merewether. E.C.Merewether was a son of Henry Alworth Merewether)

Out of copyright: Artist died before 1955
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

This portrait appears to be that used for the lithograph of 'Henry Alworth Merewether, Serjeant at Law; Solicitor to the Queen. J. Lucas pinxt. 1832. Printed by Graf & Sorel'. This print is not held in the Mitchell Library; one (without the artist's name and date of execution in the imprint) was lent for photographic copying by Mr E.J. Merewether, 1974. Location: P1/M (Pic.Acc.3143), Small Pictures File, Mitchell Library.
The National Portrait Gallery, London holds another copy including the artist's name and date

Label on reverse on upper stretcher bar, centre (partially lost) 'W. Holder & Sons Picture Restorers Brewer Street, Golden Square W. and [Orc]hard Street Portman Square [London]'. The canvas has been relined; this label may have been affixed then. The London Post Office Directories of the 1890s give Holder & Sons at the above address.
Another label on the reverse, on the lower frame edge, centre '[name lost] Picture Frame Maker and D ... [remainder lost] 68 Princes Street four doors from Coventry Street, Haymarket, W.C.' Letter dated 10 February 2000 from Jacob Simon, Curator, 18th century portraits, National Portrait Gallery, London states: ' ... framemaker is Alfred Mucklow who I suppose regilded the frame in the 1870s or thereabouts'