Portrait of Rev. George Augustus Montgomery by Wageman
There is a portrait in the Gibbon family
long thought to be possibly
Rev. George Augustus Montgomery.
And there is a missing Wilton House portrait of Rev. George Augustus Montgomery
by
Thomas Charles Wageman,
which strongly matches this one.
This is almost certainly the lost Wageman picture.
Portrait inherited by Gibbon family.
Thought to be possibly Rev. George Montgomery as a young man.
On the
back
it says:
"unknown, possibly Rev. George Augustus Montgomery".
See
full size.
See
other scan.
Trying to date the picture with AI:
- Rev. George was born 1793.
He entered Oxford in 1813.
- AI models can often be wrong, but image recognition is something they tend to be good at.
For what it is worth, I asked
ChatGPT
and it estimated this portrait as c.1825-1835.
This would suggest not Rev. George, since he would be too old (age 32-42) then.
- So could it be a family member born around 1805-1815?
But no obvious candidate comes to mind.
-
The sitter also has
secular dress, not clerical dress.
This could be before Rev. George was ordained in 1818.
Or maybe he is wearing secular dress in his personal life (which happened).
- So could it be Rev. George as a student at Oxford, maybe around 1815?
I asked ChatGPT again, asking it specifically to decide between 1815 and 1830,
and, as is often the case with AI, it changed its mind and went for 1815.
- Conclusion: Inconclusive.
Wider shot showing the frame.
See
larger
and
full size.
Portrait by Wageman, at Wilton in 1827
There is an inventory of pictures at Wilton House, dated 1827, in
2057/H5/22.
It lists a picture of Rev. George Augustus Montgomery
by
Thomas Charles Wageman
in Lord Pembroke's Sitting Room.
Rev. George Augustus Montgomery was age 34
in 1827.
So portrait would be him when under 34.
Wilton House cannot find the Wageman picture today.
There are multiple reasons to think it is the portrait above:
- The Rev. George picture is missing from Wilton, and we seem to have one.
-
The 1827 inventory says: "drawn with Black Lead, Gilt frame (Glazed)".
Both match the above.
- The general Wageman style. See below.
Conclusion: Almost certainly the same picture.
Given after 1827 to the Montgomerys, inherited by the Gibbon family.
And so a Wilton picture is now in the Gibbon family.
Entry for the
picture of Rev. George Augustus Montgomery, in Lord Pembroke's Sitting Room in 1827.
From
WSHC 2057/H5/22.
See
full page.
Our portrait matches the visual style of Thomas Charles Wageman.
Here is a sample portrait of 1817
by Wageman.
Very similar style to the above:
- Similar black lead pencil.
- Face detailed. Shoulders and top of body only sketched and fade away.
- Clothing coloured in with similar cross hatching.
- Hair drawn in similar way.
From
British Library.
See
source.
See Wageman in
Wikimedia Commons
and
NPG collection.
