Francis Hayman R.A. (c.1708-1776) Portrait of Charles Bedford (1742/3-1814) as a child

Francis Hayman R.A. (c.1708-1776)

Portrait of Charles Bedford (1742/3-1814) as a child, reclining on a bed, eating a biscuit, his dog jumping up, painted c. 1745/6

Oil on canvas in a carved wood frame

51 x 61cm; 20 x 24in

Provenance:

Grosvenor Bedford (1708-1771)

By family descent to the present owner

Charles, born on 20th March 1742/3, was the son of Grosvenor Bedford and his wife Jane Fox, who had 12 children. They were important patrons of Hayman and this would explain the unusually intimate and very informal pose which was quite a departure from the formal conventions of portraiture in this period. Charles was painted again a few years later with his sister Elizabeth, in a more traditional pose, seated on a Newfoundland dog, his sister by his side which dates this picture to 1745/6. Grosvenor Bedford also commissioned a conversation piece of his family and friends, amongst others. Hayman was one of the leading painters of his time, the equal of Hogarth, with whom he was good friends. He had a reputation as a bon viveur to the point of being dissolute, which has been over-stated as he spent much of his time in the 1750s and 60s laying the foundations for the formation of the Royal Academy. He was rewarded by being made the first Librarian to the Royal Academy, at the express wish of George III.

Charles Bedford, became a clerk in the office of the usher of the Exchequer in 1762 until 1774, even though his father, who died in 1771, had been succeeded as deputy usher by Joseph Tullie. When the latter died in 1774 Charles Bedford became deputy usher, and he held the post until Horace Walpole's death in 1797. Horace Walpole left him a legacy of £2,000 in his will. Charles Bedford lived for many years in the family villa at Brixton Causeway, but by 1808 he had moved to 9 Stafford Row, Buckingham Gate, London, where he died on 14 April 1814. Charles Bedford married Mary Page in 1769 and they had three sons: Grosvenor Charles Bedford, Walpole Bedford, and Henry Bedford.

We are grateful to Brian Allen for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.