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Richard Ray
Thomas Hudson (British, 1701–1779)
Title
Richard Ray
Artist
Thomas Hudson (British, 1701–1779)
Date
1746
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
30 × 25 in. (76.2 × 63.5 cm)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of Mary Prioreschi in memory of Dr. Plinio Prioreschi
Object Number
2022.5
On View
On view
Provenance
Commissioned from the artist by the sitter, Richard Ray, Esquire (1721–1811), Plashwood, Haughley, Suffolk, 1746–1811;
By descent to his daughter and heir, Elizabeth Tyrell (née Ray, 1778–1826), Plashwood, Haughley, Suffolk, 1811–1826;
Inherited by her husband, Charles Tyrell (1776–1872), Plashwood, Haughley, Suffolk, 1826–1872;
By descent to his son, Charles Tyrell (1805–1887), Plashwood, Haughley, Suffolk, 1872–1887;
Inherited by his brother and heir, Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Robert Tyrell (d. 1891), 1st Battalion Royal Suffolk Volunteers, Plashwood, Haughley, Suffolk, 1887–1891;
By descent to his nephews and heirs, Charles Alexander Browne, R.N., and Staff-Commander Walter William Browne (1842–1931), R.N., Rougham, Suffolk, 1891–until at least 1905 [1] [2].
Important Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century British Paintings, Sotheby, Parke, Bernet, & Co., London, March 15, 1978, lot 62 [3].
Purchased at Important Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century British Paintings, Sotheby, Parke, Bernet, & Co., London, July 19, 1978, lot 107, by D. C. Cooke, Old Post House Antiques, Playden, Rye, Sussex, 1978–June 20, 1979 [4];
Purchased from Old Post House Antiques by Dr. Plinio Prioreschi (1930–2014), Omaha, Nebraska, June 20, 1979–2014;
Inherited by his wife, Mary Prioreschi (b. 1937), Omaha, Nebraska, 2014–August 2022;
Her gift to Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, 2022.
[1] The portrait is identified in 1905 as the property of Commander W. W. Browne, R.N., Rougham–The Rookery, heir to Plashwood, in Edmund Farrer, Portraits in Suffolk Houses (West) (London: B. Quaritch, 1908), 317, no. 8.
[2] An invoice from Old Post House Antiques dated June 20, 1979 and addressed to Dr. Plinio Prioreschi of Omaha lists the provenance as follows: “By direct family descent in the Ray & Tyrell families to Cdr. W. W. Browne, Rougham, Suffolk.”
[3] The work was offered for sale by an unknown owner, but failed to sell.
[4] A letter from D.C. Cooke to Dr. Plinio Prioreschi dated May 31, 1979 suggests the painting was sold and bought back by Old Post House Antiques between December 1978 and May 1979: “In December 1978 you wrote to us expressing a wish to purchase a portrait by Thomas Hudson which was illustrated in our List No. 4/78. This portrait is now being returned to us as a part exchange of a far more expensive portrait and I am writing to inquire if you still have an interest in purchasing.”
By descent to his daughter and heir, Elizabeth Tyrell (née Ray, 1778–1826), Plashwood, Haughley, Suffolk, 1811–1826;
Inherited by her husband, Charles Tyrell (1776–1872), Plashwood, Haughley, Suffolk, 1826–1872;
By descent to his son, Charles Tyrell (1805–1887), Plashwood, Haughley, Suffolk, 1872–1887;
Inherited by his brother and heir, Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Robert Tyrell (d. 1891), 1st Battalion Royal Suffolk Volunteers, Plashwood, Haughley, Suffolk, 1887–1891;
By descent to his nephews and heirs, Charles Alexander Browne, R.N., and Staff-Commander Walter William Browne (1842–1931), R.N., Rougham, Suffolk, 1891–until at least 1905 [1] [2].
Important Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century British Paintings, Sotheby, Parke, Bernet, & Co., London, March 15, 1978, lot 62 [3].
Purchased at Important Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century British Paintings, Sotheby, Parke, Bernet, & Co., London, July 19, 1978, lot 107, by D. C. Cooke, Old Post House Antiques, Playden, Rye, Sussex, 1978–June 20, 1979 [4];
Purchased from Old Post House Antiques by Dr. Plinio Prioreschi (1930–2014), Omaha, Nebraska, June 20, 1979–2014;
Inherited by his wife, Mary Prioreschi (b. 1937), Omaha, Nebraska, 2014–August 2022;
Her gift to Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, 2022.
[1] The portrait is identified in 1905 as the property of Commander W. W. Browne, R.N., Rougham–The Rookery, heir to Plashwood, in Edmund Farrer, Portraits in Suffolk Houses (West) (London: B. Quaritch, 1908), 317, no. 8.
[2] An invoice from Old Post House Antiques dated June 20, 1979 and addressed to Dr. Plinio Prioreschi of Omaha lists the provenance as follows: “By direct family descent in the Ray & Tyrell families to Cdr. W. W. Browne, Rougham, Suffolk.”
[3] The work was offered for sale by an unknown owner, but failed to sell.
[4] A letter from D.C. Cooke to Dr. Plinio Prioreschi dated May 31, 1979 suggests the painting was sold and bought back by Old Post House Antiques between December 1978 and May 1979: “In December 1978 you wrote to us expressing a wish to purchase a portrait by Thomas Hudson which was illustrated in our List No. 4/78. This portrait is now being returned to us as a part exchange of a far more expensive portrait and I am writing to inquire if you still have an interest in purchasing.”
Exhibition History
None.
Published References
George Gery Milner-Gibson-Cullum, Pedigree of Ray of Denston, Wickhambrook and other places in Suffolk: Together with Oakes, Rawlinson, Heigham, Hasted, etc., all of the said county (London: Mitchell and Hughes, 1903), 19, (repro.).
Edmund Farrer, Portraits in Suffolk Houses (West) (London: B. Quaritch, 1908), 317, no 8.
