Mrs. John Puget (Catherine Hawkins)

Catherine Hawkins, daughter of an Irish bishop, married John Puget of Dublin and Totteridge in 1786. Mrs. Puget survived her husband, a banker and a governor of the Bank of England, who died suddenly in 1805.

This is a small replica of Gainsborough's portrait of Mrs. Puget (location unknown), which according to William T. Whitley was in the artist’s studio at the end of December 1787 (Thomas Gainsborough, New York, 1915, p. 294). In 1952 Ellis Waterhouse described the Museum's painting as “by an assistant, who would almost certainly have been Dupont.” In 1964 John Hayes supposed both the painting and the softground etching on the reverse (see fig. 1 above) to be by Gainsborough Dupont. In 1991 Graham Reynolds was inclined to agree (unpublished opinions recorded in departmental files). Hugh Belsey (1991) has instead proposed an attribution to Richard Gainsborough Dupont, pointing out that the design in the copper “seems to correspond with (though it is not identical to) the plate of the soft-ground etching by W. F. Wells” after a lost drawing by Thomas Gainsborough from the Hibbert collection that was not published until 1802. It seems reasonable to accept the suggestion of Belsey, who has extensive knowledge of Thomas Gainsborough, Gainsborough Dupont, and their descendants. It is, however, difficult to imagine how Richard Gainsborough Dupont came to see Gainsborough’s painting, which remained in the Puget family until 1897.

Richard Gainsborough Dupont, a painter and illustrator, was the nephew of Gainsborough Dupont (1754–1797), who was the nephew of Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788).

[2010; adapted from Baetjer 2009]

Mrs. Thomas Browne; her daughter, Emily Sarah Browne (given to Hadland); Miss M. E. Hadland, St. Leonards-on-Sea (until 1919; sale, Christie's, London, April 28, 1919, no. 45, as "Portrait of Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Watson," on copper, 5 x 4 in., by Gainsborough, for £120.15, to Pawsey & Payne); [Pawsey & Payne, London, 1919]; William McKay, London (1919; sold for $2,900 to Knoedler); [Knoedler, London and Paris, 1919, as Mrs. Puget; sold for $8,000 to Salomon]; William Salomon, New York (until d. 1919); his widow, Mrs. William Salomon, New York (1919–d. 1927; her estate sale, American Art Association, New York, January 4–7, 1928, no. 761, as Mrs. Puget, by Gainsborough, to Knoedler); [Knoedler, New York, 1928; sold to Harkness]; Mr. and Mrs. Edward S. Harkness, New York (1928–his d. 1940); Mrs. Edward S. (Mary Stillman) Harkness, New York (1940–d. 1950)

Carroll Carstairs. Postscript to Criticism. London, 1934, pl. 6, as Mrs. Puget by Gainsborough, in a private collection.

Ellis Waterhouse. Letter to Elizabeth Gardner. May 7, 1952, "by an assistant, who would almost certainly have been Dupont".

Graham Reynolds. Letter to Katharine Baetjer. October 17, 1991, attributes it tentatively to Gainsborough Dupont.

H. G. Belsey. Letter to Katharine Baetjer. December 20, 1991, proposes instead to ascribe it to Richard Gainsborough Dupont (1789–1874), pointing out that the reverse "seems to correspond with (though it is not identical to) the plate of the soft-ground etching by W. F. Wells" after a lost drawing from the Hibbert collection, which was published in 1802.

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 194, ill. (obverse and reverse).

Katharine Baetjer. British Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1575–1875. New York, 2009, pp. 156, 158–59, no. 76, ill. (color), fig. 108 (reverse), calls it Attributed to Richard Gainsborough Dupont.

The portrait by Gainsborough of which this is a small replica has the following provenance:
by descent to the sitter's grandson, Colonel John Puget (until 1897; his sale, Christie's, London, May 8, 1897, no. 86, for £5,040 to Wertheimer); [C. J. Wertheimer, Paris, from 1897]; Baron Alphonse de Rothschild, Paris; by descent in the Rothschild family (until at least 1946).