These children—John, at seven years old, and Mary, aged eleven—were the only son and daughter of John Newton and his wife, Charity (née Gubbins), who lived at Millaton House in Devon. With its glassy, smooth finish, cold flesh tones, grave formality, and meticulous, almost obsessive attention to detail, this painting is a remarkably idiosyncratic example of early nineteenth-century British portraiture. Robert Burnard was not identified as the artist until the painting was cleaned in 2001, revealing his signature near the upper left corner. Burnard was a Cornish portrait painter who sailed with his family to Adelaide, South Australia, in 1840. He was given free passage with his wife and six children by a government keen to increase the population. Once there, Burnard seems to have set up a house painting, plumbing, and glazing business with his eldest son, although records suggest that he continued to paint portraits and still lifes that are now lost. This is the only painting by Burnard known to survive.

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   These children were the only son and daughter of John Newton and his wife, Charity (née Gubbins), who lived at Millaton House at Bridestowe, in Devon. Based on the birth dates of the Newton children (John, in 1826, and Mary, in 1823), the picture cannot have been painted before 1833. Although much is known about the sitters and their wealthy parents, until recently there were no clues in the provenance to help answer the question of attribution. In 1963, Basil Taylor attributed the picture to the expatriate Swiss animal painter Jacques-Laurent Agasse (1767–1849), noting that “before settling in England in 1800, Agasse studied under David and the strong clarity of his forms and the closely integrated organization of his design [i.e., of the Newton portrait] derive as much perhaps from that source as from the Swiss tradition to which he obviously belongs.” Only these, or sources equally distant from Cornwall, were sufficient to account for the “mesmeric force” of the painting's realism, its “clarity and precision of detail.” The picture did not seem English enough. “It stands quite apart from the romantic bravura and exaggerated expressiveness of the typical portraiture of its time, dominated as that was by the style and spirit of Sir Thomas Lawrence” (Taylor, 1963, p. 276).

   In 1978 Egerton devised an ingenious and, in many ways, better argument, linking this somewhat isolated West Country subject with the Scottish portrait and history painter John Zephaniah Bell (1793–1883). Echoing Taylor’s thoughts about Agasse, Egerton cited in Bell’s favour the “clarity, strong lines and quasi-heroic composition [that] link it rather with the portraiture of David and his pupils, presupposing some continental training in the artist” (Egerton, 1978, pp. 286–87). But, in this case, notwithstanding her own view that the portrait “stands quite apart from the typical British portraiture of its time,” Egerton based her attribution on the Newton painting’s close resemblance to an 1829 father-and-daughter portrait by Bell, “David Ogilvy, 9th Earl of Airlie, and His Daughter, Clementina, Aged Nine” (Earl and Countess of Airlie, Cortachy Castle, Kirriemuir, Angus), further suggesting that the Newton portrait might have been painted in London (Egerton, 1978, pp. 286–87). This would account for Bell’s otherwise conspicuous lack of West Country clientele.

   Both hypotheses turned out to be wrong. In preparation for the 2001 exhibition “The Paul Mellon Bequest: Treasures of a Lifetime”, the Newton portrait was cleaned by the paintings conservator Lance Mayer, who discovered the signature of Robert Burnard lurking in the foliage in the upper left corner. This is the only surviving portrait that has been securely ascribed to Burnard from the period prior to his immigration to South Australia, though its sophistication surely suggests that others may yet be identified.

Angus Trumble

   John Baskett, Paul Mellon's legacy: a passion for British art: masterpieces from the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, p. 292, no. 106, pl. 106, N5220 M552 P38 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA)

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