THOMAS BEACH (1738-1806) PAIR OF PORTRAIT OIL PAINTINGS ON C...

Hammer

£4,200

THOMAS BEACH (1738-1806) PAIR OF PORTRAIT OIL PAINTINGS ON CANVAS, 1775 depicting the Rt Hon.Warren Lisle M.P and his son, William Clapcot Lisle Esq, the portrait of William inscribed in lower left corner: 'William Clapcot Lisle, Esq, Beach pinxit 1775, re-lined canvas in period gilt frames
75 x 61 cm each

Provenance :These items came from Portesham House, Portesham, Dorset, the family estate of Vice Admiral Thomas Masterman Hardy, flag Captain to Admiral Lord Nelson and first Naval Lord, (1769-1839)  property by descent, part of a private Wilshire collection.

Note: Warren Lisle (c.1695–July 1788) was an English customs officer, active against smugglers. He was mayor of Lyme Regis in 1751, 1754 and 1763, and, near the end of his life, Member of Parliament for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis.
He was son of Warren Lisle the elder, searcher of the customs at Weymouth, Dorset. His family was related to the Tuckers, the local Members of Parliament Edward Tucker and John Tucker, and so was connected to Gabriel Steward who married a granddaughter of Edward Tucker.

Lisle took up the same customs position as his father had held, in 1721. From about 1737 he was operating against smugglers in the English Channel with two vessels, from Hengistbury Head. Around 1740 the Commissioners of Customs made Lisle Surveyor of Sloops, for the south coast. By 1747, he was commander of the Cholmondeley sloop, a revenue cutter of 80 tons which he also owned. In July of that year, he took in it two sloops off Bigbury-on-Sea on Devon, with cargoes of tea, brandy, rum and tobacco.
For a period of nearly 40 years, Lisle controlled the coastal revenue vessels, from Portsmouth in the east to Land's End in the west.In 1761, during the Seven Years' War, Lisle in the Cholmondeley took the French privateer Triumphant from Cherbourg, west of Portland Bill.The cutter was purchased as a 15-year old vessel by the Royal Navy in 1763 and refitted, becoming HMS Cholmondely, commissioned under Skeffington Lutwidge.[9] In 1764 Lisle reported that smuggling was as active as he had known it.
When Lisle resigned his post at Weymouth in 1773, it passed to his son William.He left the customs service finally in 1779, then writing a series of reports to Lord Shelburne, the Home Secretary.

Lisle was elected on 7 September 1780 during that year's general election as MP for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis as locum tenens, aged reportedly 85. He stood down on 21 November to allow his kinsman, Gabriel Steward, to stand for the seat after completing his own term as mayor of the borough (when he had been the local returning officer).

Warren Lisle died in July 1788 at Upwey, Dorset, aged 93.

Provenance : from a private Wiltshire collection

More Information

In our opinion the frames do have age and both have Frost & Reed paper labels on the reverse dated 1966. Frost and Reed were artistic framemakers and picture restorers. It also bears the name in pen of one of the descendants of masterman Hardy who most likely had these reframed at Frost and Reed. Additionally, the portrait of the son was originally painted with the intention of being in an oval frame, the outline of which is clearly visible.
Both paintings have been relined, whilst nothing appears under blacklight/UV light it is likely that there are one or two overpainted or touched in areas as would be expected with paintings of this age. Each painting has craquelure throughout