Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Conservation of Ryland

Object: Portrait of Ryland Randolph, c. 1756
Accession #: 1990.0012

Portrait of Ryland Randolph before conservation
Purchased in 1990, this portrait is a rare example of John Wollastan's English rococo style portraiture in colonial America. Wollastan traveled from England to America in the mid 18th century, painting portraits of wealthy Americans throughout the colonies in the style he introduced, characterized by graceful poses, pastel colors, and finely detailed costumes. Wollastan's trademark upturned lips and heavy-lidded, almond-shaped eyes are also evident in this portrait of Ryland Randolph, first cousin to Wilton's builder William Randolph III. Ryland's haughty appearance in the portrait fits with his reputation as a somewhat irresponsible landowner and planter who squandered his inheritance on his own interests. Unfortunately, the portrait's appearance at the time of its acquisition disguises theoriginal image through layers of overpainting and a deteriorated condition.

Pursuing conservation of this portrait was a priority of the Museum Board. After thoughtful study, and with community support, noted conservator Scott Nolley undertook the restoration of the portrait he described as a "long-obscured colonial masterwork."

Portrait during conservation: the upper right
quadrant shows the painting cleaned of dirt,
varnish, and overpainting
Ryland's portrait was completely painted over on two separate occasions: once around a century after its completion and again in the early 20th century. At some point in the past a doubtless well-meaning conservator trimmed the canvas around the image area and attached it to a linen backing. Unfortunately, this had begun to come loose, causing the surface to bubble and warp. Additionally, age contributed to crackling in the paint surface, the accumulation of dirt and the discoloration of varnish. Nolley removed each of these detrimental additions to Wollastan's original painting and stabilized it against future deterioration. The picture to the right showing Ryland's paler face is the original image with the dirt and unoriginal paint and varnish removed from the upper right portion. Below left is a picture showing the full portrait completely cleaned but with numerous areas of paint missing from Ryland's face, coat, and around the outside edge of the canvas. Below right shows the painting after Nolley inpainted these losses in a manner consistent with Wollastan's original version. Ryland Randolphs fully conserved portrait is currently on display in the Dining Room.


Ryland's portrait after cleaning,
showing areas of loss before inpainting 
Fully conserved portrait 


Bibliography:

Cowden, Gerald Stephen and College of William and Mary, Department of History. The Randolphs of Turkey Island: A Prosopography of the First Three Generations, 1650-1806. Ann Arbor, MI and London. University Microfilms International, 1977.

"John Wollastan." Early American Paintings in the Worcester Art Museum. 22 July 2013. <http://www.worcesterart.org/Collection/Early_American/>

Nolley, Scott. "Paintings Treatment Report." Unpublished internal document, 2003.


Image Credit:

Nolley, Scott. "Paintings Treatment Report." Unpublished internal document, 2003.

6 comments:

  1. Fascinating post, although Ryland was quite a bit more interesting -- and Wollaston quite a bit less skilled -- than the writer suggests. But splendid conservation work of an important painting. Would be interesting to learn more of the provenance, however, given what was known to have happened to his estate, including this portrait.

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    1. Thank you for your thoughts, Taylor. Yes, Ryland is quite the interesting historical figure. In his 1784 Will he left his portrait to his niece, Mrs. (Susanna) Douglas. It came to Wilton by way of a descendant of the Curles line of Randolphs. Ryland did not have any (legitimate) children of his own, so most of his belongings were left to various family members. One notable exception, Ryland left "All my Household furniture of every kind including Gold & Silver," to his newly freed "house servant," Aggy, and her two young children. He also directed that she and her children receive funds for transportation to England and that they receive interest, to the sum of L3000, from the sale of his estate. Records indicate that Ryland's brother, Richard, acted against Ryland's will and maintained the bondage of Aggy and her children. According to Cowden, "At his death in 1786, Richard provided for the eventual emancipation of Aggy's children on the condition that they do not 'claim or receive any Legacy from the Estate of my brother Ryland Randolph.'" It is not known what happened to Aggy or her children. The only other reference I have found to Aggy and her children is a request to the county court for the emancipation of this family as willed by Ryland Randolph.

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    2. I'm so sorry that I missed this kind and generous response. I'm writing a book on Ryland and Aggy and created a program about them at Colonial Williamsburg, although it has since departed markedly from the historical truth about them. It really is too bad that Wollaston had to paint the portrait, but there it is. That there is a 1740s portrait of him that isn't a copy of this (as the below post suggests) is notable. It appears he went to England with his father and Brett in 1748 and didn't return until about 1756, so I'm curious as to when this might have been painted, and what the other portrait might be.

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  2. I own a 1740's portrait of Ryland of Curles. My portrait is extremely well preserved, and was passed down to Brett Randolph's (his brother), daughter Susannah Randolph Douglas, upon his death. Susannah was a favored neice, born before Brett's early death from smallpox, and lived to be 95 years old. She was my gr-gr-gr-gr-grandmother.

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    1. I would love to talk with you some more regarding your portrait of Ryland and how it came down through your family. Could you please contact me at Wilton? I can be reached at wstrollo@wiltonhousemuseum.org or (804)282-5936 ext. 4. Thank you, William Strollo, Director of Education.

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  3. I can tell you more of the provenance of the Ryland Randolph portrait at Wilton. I am from the Petersburg family, descendants of the Randolphs of Curles, who owned the Ryland portrait before it came to Wilton.

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