SP 4205
GEORGE HENRY LAPORTE
1802 – London – 1873
A sportsman thrown out, enquiring of a shepherd
Signed and dated lower right: G.H. Laporte 1830; signed and inscribed on a label on the stretcher: A Sportsman thrown/….enquiring of a Shepherd/G.H. Laporte./99 Albany St. Regent’s Park
Canvas: 25 x 30 in / 63.5 x 76.2 cm
Frame size: 30 x 35 in / 76.2 x 88.9 cm
Provenance:
Mrs J Spark;
Christie’s London, 23rd November 1928, lot 65 (145 gns to Knowles)
Arthur Ackermann & Son Ltd (label on the stretcher)
HRH The Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, KG, KT, KP (1900-1974), Barnwell Manor, Northamptonshire
Exhibited:
Northampton Central Museum and Art Gallery, Centenary of Northamptonshire Museums: Exhibition of Country Life: Pictures from Northamptonshire Houses, 8th October-5th November 1966, no.31 (lent by the Duke of Gloucester)
George Henry Laporte specialised in sporting and military subjects, producing some of his finest work in the 1830s. In 1836 he was appointed animal painter to George III’s fifth son Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and, from 1837, King of Hanover (1771-1851). This painting shows a sportsman who has lost his way in the hunting field and is enquiring directions of a shepherd. The elegant rider and mettlesome horse, straining at the bit and silhouetted against a sky of scudding clouds, contrast with the stolid calm of the shepherd and his dog.
GEORGE HENRY LAPORTE
1802 – London – 1873
George Henry Laporte was the son of the landscape watercolourist and drawing master John Peter Laporte (1761-1839). His sister Mary Anne (b. c.1795) painted portraits and fancy subjects. George was probably taught by his father’s friend, the sporting painter Henry Bernard Chalon (1770-1849). George specialised in sporting paintings and military subjects. He lived with his family at 16 Upper George Street until 1838. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and the British Institution from 1818 and was a member of the New Society of Painters in Water Colours from 1834.
In 1836 Laporte was appointed animal painter to George III’s son Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and, from 1837, King of Hanover (1771-1851). He also contributed forty-three plates to The Sporting Magazine. He married Eliza Elgie in 1850 and died at 13 Norfolk Square, Paddington in 1873.