Sir Joshua Reynolds (British, 1723-1792)
Portrait of Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, half-length standing to front in Garter robes, hat in right hand

oil on canvas

Dimensions: 124 x 99 cm. (48 3/4 x 39 in.)

Sale; Sotheby’s, The British Sale, London, 01 July 2004, Lot 120, from Drayton House.
Private Collection, UK

Literature:
D. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds, 2000, I, no.1570
National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Later Stuart Portraits 1685-1714, National Portrait Gallery, 2009

A second version in the Government Art Collection (3331), from the Nuneham Park sale, Christie’s, 11 June 1948, lot 164 (D. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds, 2000, I, no.1571), presented to Lord Harcourt by Lady Cecilia Johnson (E. W. Harcourt ed., The Harcourt Papers, III, p 260, as one ‘of the most indifferent of his [Reynolds’s] performances’).

We are grateful to Dr Martin Postle for his confirmation of the attribution based on high resolution images.

Lionel Sackville, 1^st Duke of Dorset (18 January 1688 – 10 October 1765) was an eminent British political figure in the personal favour of King George I, at whose coronation he bore the Sovereign’s Sceptre.

Serving twice as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and once as Lord President of the Council, The Duke of Dorset occupied a key role at the forefront of the British state for over three decades, receiving high offices and honours that included Knight of the Garter, Lord Steward, and Warden of the Cinque Ports. A popular and knowledgeable conversationalist, he was described by his contemporaries as ‘the last the good breeding, decency of manners, and dignity of exterior’. As such, the Duke preserved the manner of the Court of Queen Anne despite, according to The Right Honourable Horace Walpole, his private love of ‘low humour and buffoonery’. He gives his name to Sackville Street, W1S, later the home of ‘The Club’, a dining club founded in 1764 by the artist, alongside Samuel Johnson and Edmund Burke.

The painting comes from Drayton House, Northamptonshire, which was passed to Lord George Sackville, son of the aforementioned Duke of Dorset, from the childless Lady Betty Germain on the instruction of her late husband, Sir John Germain. Changing his surname to Germain, Lord George Sackville refurbished the house and it has remained in the Sackville family since. Most recently, Drayton House was used as the set for the Emerald Fennell film, Saltburn (2023).

Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, was also painted by other renowned artists of the period, such as Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723). In the present portrait, the Duke of Dorset is shown wearing his traditional state robes. Around his neck hangs a ceremonial collar made of gold knots alternating with enamelled roses, each rose encircled by a blue garter. Suspended from the collar is a three-dimensional enamel figure of St George slaying the dragon, signifying the Duke’s membership in the Order of the Garter, the highest English order of chivalry.