Carl Fredrik von Breda, Sir William Fordyce
Klubbat för:
19000 SEK
Utropspris
20 000-25 000 SEK
Beskrivning
CARL FREDRIK VON BREDA
1759-1818
Portrait of the Scottish physician Sir William Fordyce (1724-1792), seated, halflength, holding a book in his hand inscribed ´Fordyce Frag. Med. X.´, on the spine
Inscribed "Breda - - -" in pencil on the reverse and "Ekman" in blue chalk on a label. Oil on canvas laid on panel
18.1 x 14.8 cm. (panel 18.5 x 15.3 cm.)
PROVENANCE
Carl Edvard Ekman (1826-1903), Finspång Foundry,
his son, Province Governor Axel Ekman (1869-1939), Mogård, Marieholm and Kilanda,
his daughter Maria Adlercreutz (1898-1993), Höja Säteri (Manorhouse),
purchased from her descendents by the present owner in 2012
LITERATURE
E Malmberg, Marieholm, in Svenska Slott- och Herresäten [Swedish Castles and Manorhouses], 1920, p. 112 where described as hanging in the Passage to the Livingroom
E. Hultmark, Carl Fredrik von Breda, 1935, p. 136, no. 74
Fordyce is depicted holding a copy of his famous book Fragmenta Chirurgica & Medica, first published in 1784.
Von Breda was active as a portraitpainter in London between 1787-96. There is no lifesize portrait by von Breda of Sir William Fordyce known. Unless lost, this suggests that the present study was painted in 1792, and that the commission was cancelled due to Fordyce´s death. A version of the present picture, or a copy after it, was included in the exhibition of von Breda´s work held at Nationalmuseum (Carl Fredrik von Breda 1759-1818. Minnesutställning, sept-okt 1959, No. 19a (lent by Tore Kullberg, Norrköping).
The son of Provost George Fordyce (1663-1733) of Aberdeen, and brother of David Fordyce, was born in Aberdeen in1724, and educated at Marischal College, also serving a medical pupilage with a local practitioner and with his brother John at Uppingham in 1743. He was volunteering for the army during the War of the Austrian Succession which ended in 1748, and obtained an appointment as surgeon to the Guards, with whom he served in three campaigns.
Probably after the peace he travelled and studied in France. He was in Turin in 1750. While retaining his connection with the army, he entered on general practice in London, and this and the growing fame of his brothers gained him introduction. In 1770 he was created M.D. at Cambridge by royal mandate, and was admitted licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians on 10 April 1786. He was knighted by George III in 1787, and in the same year became Fellow of the Royal Society.
He aided his brother Alexander Fordyce to his rise of fortune, and suffered a heavy loss when he failed, taking upon himself the burden of his brother James Fordyce's loss also. The Society of Arts voted him a gold medal for his work on rhubarb. At the time of his death he was lord rector of Marischal College. Fordyce's works (all published in London) are: A Review of the Venereal Disease and its Remedies, 1767, A New Inquiry into the Causes, Symptoms, and Cure of Putrid and Inflammatory Fevers, with an Appendix on the Hectic Fever and on the Ulcerated Sore Throat, 1773, The Great Importance and Proper Method of Cultivating and Curing Rhubarb in Britain for Medical Uses, 1784, Fragmenta Chirurgica et Medica, 1784 and Letter to Sir John Sinclair on the Virtues of Muriatic Acid in curing Putrid Diseases, 1790.
Auktionsnummer:
3059
Datum:
2016-12-08