Footnotes

Provenance
The artist's studio sale, Greenwood's, 16 April, 1796, lot 1 (bought by Colonel William Mayne, the sitter's eldest son but never paid for or collected)
Sale, Christie's, London, 13 May 1881, lot 265 (owner Bale), where purchased by
With Agnew's, London, from whom acquired by
Sir Charles Tennant in May 1881, and thence by descent to
Lord Glenconner, London, 1941
The Hon. Colin Tennant and thence by descent to the present owner

Exhibited
London, Royal Academy, 1891, cat. no. 30
London, Royal Academy, 1906, cat. no. 19

Literature
A. Graves and W. V. Cronin, A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, London, 1899-1901, vol. II, p. 635
Sir. W. Armstrong, Sir Joshua Reynolds, London, 1900, p. 219
E.K. Waterhouse, Reynolds, London, 1941, p. 67
J. Dugdale, 'Sir Charles Tennant: the story of a Victorian collector, Connoisseur, CLXXVIII, September 1971, p. 4
D. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, London and New Haven, 2000, p.330, cat. no. 1233, ill. fig. 1153

Engraved
Mezzotint by George H. Every, published 1865 by Henry Graves & Co

At around the time of their marriage in 1775, both Robert Mayne (1724-82), a Jermyn Street banker, and his wife, Sarah, sat to Reynolds. The artist's pocketbooks for 1774-6 are missing so there is no record of the precise sittings. Neither portrait was delivered, however, and later both were sold on the third day of the artist's studio sale at Greenwood's. By the late 1770s Mayne was almost certainly experiencing financial difficulties and this probably accounts for the unfulfilled commission.

The sitter was the fifth son of William Mayne of Powis Lodge, Clackmannan, by his second wife, Helen, daughter of William Galbraith of Balglair, Stirling. In 1774 Mayne's brother Sir William Mayne acquired control of both seats at Gatton. Robert Mayne was returned to replace his brother as Member of Parliament for Gatton at a by-election on 27 December 1774. While in Parliament he was also a major Government contractor provisioning troops in America or the West Indies with contracts from 1776 to 1782. In the 1780 general election he contested Stockbridge and Colchester where he was unsuccessful but was also returned again for Gatton. He supported the Administration of Lord North and is not recorded as having spoken in Parliament. He married firstly, 24 October, 1763, Anne, daughter of John Knight, and secondly, 15 June 1775, Sarah Otway.