John Thomas Seton (Scottish, ca. 1735-1806), Portrait of Lord and Lady Pitfour

Oil on canvas (lined), painted in feigned oils, inscribed in later hand to verso of each “Lord Pitfour / Seton 1776” and “Lady Pitfour / Seton pinxt / 1776,” each retaining an affixed label to medial stretcher with sitter’s biographical data, presented in later gilt composition frames.

Stretcher size 30 x 25 in.; Frame dimensions 37 x 31 3/4 in. (each)

From the Estate of Sir William Davenport, sold 1926
Christie’s, London, Sir William Bromley-Davenport and Other Collections, July 28-29, 1926, lot 227
DuMouchelles, Detroit, Michigan, February 14, 1993, Lot 2004 and 2005

These portraits represent James Ferguson (1700-1777), second Laird of the Pitfour estate in Buchan, and his wife Anne Murray (1708-1793).
The couple married in 1733 and raised three sons and three daughters. One of his sons, Patrick Ferguson, was an officer in the Royal North British Dragoons and ultimately died in 1780 at the Battle of King’s Mountain during the American Revolutionary War.

Lord Pitfour was one of the most accomplished lawyers in 18th century Scotland. Additionally, he was a staunch Jacobite and a member of the Poker Club, a social club associated with the Scottish Enlightenment.

John Thomas Seton (Seaton) was an accomplished Scottish portrait painter who later gained acclaim in India. Seton studied under Francis Hayman (1708-1776); an English painter and founding member of the Royal Academy in 1768. Seton spent a few years in Rome before returning to London in 1760/1761, then Edinburgh in 1772.

From 1776 until 1785, Seton was in India where he built a strong clientele for portrait commissions, primarily for those involved with the British East India Company. He returned to Edinburgh in 1785 a wealthy man but continued to paint society portraits until his death in 1806.

Frame of Lord Pitfour with some loss to composition ornament; both with obscuring varnish visible under UV light.