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Thomas Gainsborough, R.A.(Sudbury 1727-1788 London)Portrait of James Freeman (1702-1786), bust-length, in a blue coat, within a painted oval
Sold for £10,240 inc. premium
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Poppy Harvey-Jones
Head of Sale

Lisa Greaves
Head of Department
Thomas Gainsborough, R.A. (Sudbury 1727-1788 London)
oil on canvas
76.1 x 63.4cm (29 15/16 x 24 15/16in).
Footnotes
Provenance
By descent from the sitter to his grand-daughter, Elizabeth Freeman, Letton Court, Hereford and thence by descent to
Margaret Jane Blisset, married Tom Millet Dew by whose trustees sold
Sale Russell, Baldwin and Bright Ltd, Letton Court, Hereford, 9 June, 1960, lot 83 (bt Bernard)
With Leggatt Bros, London, from whom purchased by
Richard Walker, 1961, and thence by descent
Literature
H. Belsey, Thomas Gainsborough. The Portraits, Fancy Pictures and Copies after Old Masters, London, 2019, vol. I, p. 330, cat. no. 345, ill. p. 332
Born in 1702, James Freeman went on to become a successful brass founder, running several copper smelting works in Bristol and South Wales. Whilst the costume is typical of the 1750s, Hugh Belsey dates this portrait to circa 1784, by which point Freeman was already in his eighties. Belsey suggests that this anachronistic, more informal dress, is accounted for by Freeman's Nonconformist leanings.
