Maurice Greene; John Hoadly

1 portrait of John Hoadly

Maurice Greene; John Hoadly, by Francis Hayman, 1747 -NPG 2106 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Early Georgian Portraits Catalogue

Maurice Greene; John Hoadly

by Francis Hayman
1747
27 1/2 in. x 35 1/2 in. (699 mm x 902 mm)
NPG 2106

Inscriptionback to top

Inscribed in gold script, bottom left: Dr: J: Hoadly & Dr: Maurice Greene/Composer to his Majesty./Painted by Mr. Hayman. 1747; exhibition label, 1885, removed from frame to picture dossier.

This portraitback to top

The hand of NPG 2106 is undoubtedly Hayman's. Identification rests on the inscription - almost certainly of an early date - and on the identity of the figure on the left which, despite Hayman's tendency to make his sitters look alike, is recognisably close in features to the Festing portrait of Greene. The pink gown may allude to the doctorate of music awarded at Oxford in 1730. Phoebe, published 1748, was a joint work by Greene and John Hoadly, chancellor of Winchester and chaplain to Frederick, Prince of Wales, whose portraiture cannot be used to prove or disprove the identification since it has been confused with that of his brother Benjamin Hoadly, MD (1706-57). 'A Portrait of Dr John Hoadly and Dr Green, the celebrated Composer' was listed lot 37 in the Hoadly sale of 10-11 January 1812 which seems not to have taken place. The pictures, put up for sale again on 21 January, with the same lot numbers, [1] included lot 67 ‘Mr Garrick and Mrs Pritchard in the Suspicious Husband', probably the picture from the Mathews collection now in the Garrick Club [2] and later lot 53 of the Harris sale, 1819, when it was stated to have been in Hoadly's collection. The inscription Mr Garrick and Mrs Pritchard in the Suspicious Husband Act ye 4 Painted by Mr. Hayman 1747 is in the same hand as that on NPG 2106 which suggests that the latter may have been in the collection of John Hoadly passing, at his death in 1776, to his widow. Another version, now in the London Museum, was stated in 1858 to have come from Garrick's collection. [3] In 1781 Nichols noted that 'Mrs Hoadly has a scene of Ranger and Clarinda in The Suspicious Husband; and the late Chancellor repeating a song to Dr Greene, for him to compose: both by Hogarth'. [4] No mention of the inscription is made by Nichols but, assuming it was already there, this may be because he is recording Mrs Hoadly's views rather than his own observations. 'Mrs Hoadly' is taken by Nichols and Steevens [5] to mean John Hoadly's widow. [6] Piper suggests that the confusion originates with her, and for Hogarth we should read Hayman. No Hogarth is known. [7]

Footnotesback to top

1) F. Lugt, Repertoire des Catalogues de Ventes, 1600 (8099) and (8105).
2) C. K. Adams, A Catalogue of the Pictures in the Garrick Club, 1936, p 118 (394).
3) Reproduced, J. Hayes, Catalogue of the Oil Paintings of the London Museum, 1970, p 207.
4) J. Nichols, Biographical Anecdotes of William Hogarth, 1781, p 59. Information from H. Johnstone, 13 April 1963.
5) J. Nichols and G. Steevens, The Genuine Works of William Hogarth, 1808-17, I, p 423, and index to II under Hoadly, Mrs.
6) John Hoadly married, 1735-36, Elizabeth Ashe, no further details known, R. B. Beckett, Hogarth, 1949, p 53.
7) R. B. Beckett, Hogarth, 1949, p 44.

Physical descriptionback to top

Greene seated left, writing: light brown eyebrows, grey eyes; large black cap, open white shirt with lace cuff ruffles, pink gown, black breeches and grey hose; on the table, to his right, the open score of PHŒBE. A Pastoral Opera. Hoadly, of paler complexion, in light grey wig and dark grey suit, leans on the back of a chair, a rolled paper in his crossed hands, his hat on a stool to his left; panelled interior with a high chimney piece on which stands a jar with an oriental figure; in front, a firescreen, with a strong shadow cast by the light admitted top left.

Conservationback to top

Discoloured varnish; pin holes in corners.

Provenanceback to top

Bought, 1925, from Mrs Florence Street, possibly lot 37 in the Hoadly sale, 10-11 January 1812, marked £2/10/-, purchaser not known; in the Street family since at least 1886.

Exhibitionsback to top

'International Inventions Exhibition', Loan Collection, 1885 (103) lent by Mrs Street; 'Music Loan Exhibition', 1904, p 229, lent by J. E. Street.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Kerslake, Early Georgian Portraits, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1977, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

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