This charming late 18th-century English school oil painting depicts Henry Haynes (1745-1801) attired in a rather fetching navy blue coat, yellow waistcoat, and white cravat. He’s holding a missive.
Born and raised at the historic Isle of Ely in Cambridgeshire, Haynes was a landowner and man of means. Little is known of his heritage, but various press reports refer to auction sales comprising considerable parcels of land in his name. According to his ancestry records, he also worked as a ‘waterman’, a vital role for an area so reliant on its rivers and various waterways.
The task of a waterman was to transport passengers and their luggage via the river - essentially the equivalent of a river taxi. They usually worked alongside ‘lightermen’ who carried goods instead of live cargo. Aside from their rowing ability, watermen were also skilled in the art of verbal sparring - often pitching their services to passers-by on the riverbank and noisily arguing with competitors.
It’s likely that Haynes employed staff to undertake the ferrying aspects, while he ran the business itself. Intriguingly, a report from 1776 refers to an apprentice, William Liam Jotsham, who’d run away and urgently needed returning.
This splendid portrayal of a well-known local figure is a remarkable survivor and undoubtedly once hung in the sitter’s own home.
Held in a later frame and inscribed on the reverse.
Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 30½” x 36½” / 77cm x 93cm
Year of creation: c. 1791
Labels & Inscriptions: Inscribed with the sitter’s name on the reverse / Morgan, Swan & Morgan picture frame makers label.
Provenance: Private collection, UK.
Condition: Cleaned. Revarnished. Canvas relined. Faint stretcher mark. Areas of fine and settled craquelure, as you would expect. The paint layer is stable. Frame with various marks and showing its age.
Our reference: BRV1973
