Lambton, William Henry
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- Lambton, William Henry
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(1764 - 97) of Lambton Hall, Durham, e. s. of John Lambton; educ. Eton and Trin. Camb. 1782; m. 1791 Ldy. Anne Barbara Villiers, dau. of 4th E. of Jersey; MP 1787 - 97; d. Pisa.
1796 - 7 Naples (by 25 Oct. 1796 - Mar. 1797), Rome (by Jun. - Oct. 1797), Pisa (Oct. - d. 30 Nov. 1797)
'One of the richest private gentlemen in England', and a man of radical convictions, Lambton set out for Italy with his young family in the summer of 1796. It was not politically an easy time for Italian travel, but Lambton was probably seeking a cure for the consumption of which he was to die the following year. They sailed to Naples where they were in quarantine on 25 October.1 On 12 January 1797 Lambton witnessed the marriage of Elizabeth Wynne to Captain Fremantle, and they were all dining with the King and Queen of Naples at Caserta on 9 February.2 Later that month Lambton was sitting with his family to the German painter Augusto Nicodemo, and Eugenia Wynne thought she had never seen 'anything so pretty and so much like'.3 The picture, dated Naples 1797 (Christie's, 22 Apr. 1983), shows four children, the fourth presumably being the boy, Hedworth, who was born in Naples on 26 March 1797 (the others being John, 1792 - 1840, William, 1793 - 1824, and Frances). Lambton also bought eight horses which William Hamilton was trying to export early in June.4
By then the Lambtons were in Rome. A Mr Manby [possibly the Rev. John Manby] was then looking for a Robinson Crusoe for the Lambton children who were just beginning to read.5 'Guntatarde', an artist described as 'brother of the language master', was teaching Lambton's wife, Lady Anne.6 Lambton sat to Alexander Day for a miniature portrait,7 and to Angelica Kauffman (Sotheby's, 13 Apr. 1994), as did his small daughter Frances as Psyche (Anderson and Garland, 18 Apr. 1932). William Artaud thought the Psyche did not look like the child, but Angelica's whole-length portrait of Lambton was 'the best resemblance there has been done of him; still, it fails of his true phisianomical character. An attempt at softening the features and giving a certain kind of prettiness ever destroys in my opinion, the energy of her Male portraits'. Artaud, whom Lambton had met in Naples, became his regular guest and acted as his cicerone.7 Lambton also commissioned four drawings of Rome from the Swiss artist Franz Kaisermann, and two from Guntatarde; a historical drawing from 'Fredrigo the German', and a painting of Mother of the Gracchi and her Children from Vincenzo Camuccini. John Deare was asked for a chimneypiece for Lambton's library, while Artaud himself was commissioned to copy three portraits (of Raphael, Perugino and Macchiavelli), and to paint a portrait of the Lambton infant, Hedworth (whom he painted from the front and back with a guardian angel above), and a subject from Erasmus Darwin's Love of the Plants, Liberty tearing away the veils of Ignorance and Superstition (VAM).8 On 25 October Lambton exported twelve paintings from Rome, seven landscapes, three portraits and two histories.9
By October Lambton's health was visibly declining, Artaud observing that his life was 'a continual series of efforts to render those around him happy'.(10) The family moved to Pisa, where he died on 30 November; he was buried in the Protestant cemetery in Leghorn.(11) John Deare was to provide designs for a simple monument.8
1. Attingham MSS (Ldy. Berwick, 25 Oct. 1796). 2. Wynne Diaries, 2:151, 157, 162. 3. Ibid., 156. 4. ASN E 674. 5. Artaud letter bk.MSS (27 Jun. 1797). 6. Ibid. (4 Dec. 1797). 7. Ibid. (27 Aug. 1797). 8. Ibid. (22 Dec. 1797). 9. ASR ABA 14, f.299. 10. Artaud letters MSS (28 Oct. 1797). 11. Leghorn Inscr., 46.