Footnotes

The present lot is an interesting example of Bone's work as it is taken from a wax cast of a life-mask by Mountstephen for whom Joseph and Susan Farington sat in 1792. In his diary entry for May 26th, 1796, Farington comments "I told [Bestland] the model in Wax of me by Mount Stephen is considered a better likeness than Singleton's".

After his wife's death, aged 50, the process by which the present lot came to be executed, is well documented in Farington's diary:
June 14th, 1800: Farington drops model by Mount Stephen, Repairs it. Flaxman called in the evening. Will Make a cast in wax for me.
June 16th, 1800: Flaxman called this morning & took the mould made by Mount Stephen of my late dearly beloved wife-in order to prepare a cast from it.
June 18th, 1800: Flaxman called and brought two casts from the mould.
June 23rd, 1800: Flaxman came this morning & worked on the impressions taken from the Model.
July 28th, 1800: Flaxman called & brought the Model finished.
July 17th, 1801: Bone called-and spoke to me abt. the vacancies of Associates. He is now much employed in painting enamels-I spoke to him about painting one of beloved wife from the Model, which He said He could & would do.
June 8th, 1802: Bone I called on & spoke to him about the enamel Copy from the wax model of my beloved wife.
August 10th, 1802: Bone I called on and delivered to Him the Model
November 12th, 1802: Bone I called upon & saw the picture in Enamel which I am most interested in. I trust as it proceeds it will be made to resemble the image in my mind.
June 7th, 1803: Bone I called on and examined the picture he is painting in Enamel of my late most beloved wife-it is much more like than I could have expected, painted as it is from a Model.
June 28th, 1803: Examined the progress of the Enamel in which I am most interested. Smirke & Mary Smirke much approving the likeness suggested a few alterations
October 9th, 1804: Called on Bone. He has begun a second portrait for me on the subject in which I am most interested-not being satisfied with his first attempt.
January 21st, 1805: Bone called and brot. Me the Enamel picture of my late most dear wife finished. The resemblance has exceeded my best hopes, & I expressed to him how much he has done for me.

Farington also records in his diary, for 14th July, 1793, "My Mother & wife sat to [George Dance] this day for their profiles". It is probable that Bone used this profile as a prototype for her torso.

This documentation gives us an interesting insight into Bone's working methods and the relationship with his clients. It would appear that he found working from a wax hard, but one can also imagine that Farington was a demanding client, requiring an exact likeness of his much loved wife who he had lost at such an early age.