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Captain Thomas Mathews
Thomas Gainsborough (English, 1727–1788)
about 1772
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
77.5 x 64.5cm (30 1/2 x 25 3/8in.)
Credit Line
Juliana Cheney Edwards Collection
Accession Number25.134
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Diana Jones married Thomas Mathews in November 1763. Four years later, they moved to the fashionable resort of Bath, where Gainsborough painted them. Captain Mathews was infamous for sexually harassing the young and lovely singer Elizabeth Linley, provoking two duels with the amorous playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. (Mathews lost the first and won the second.) In a 1772 letter, Gainsborough mentioned that Sheridan and Linley had eloped, called Mathews a scoundrel, and expressed his sympathy for the playwright—presumably explaining why the artist left the portrait unfinished.
ProvenanceAbout 1772, commissioned by the sitter, Captain Thomas Mathews (b. 1741 - d. 1820); 1820, by inheritance to his wife, Diana Jones (d. 1822); by descent within the Jones family to R. O. Jones, Fonmon Castle, Cowbridge, South Glamorgan, Wales [see note 1]; 1923, R. O. Jones to Howard Young Galleries, New York and London. By 1924, Robert J. Edwards (d. 1924), Boston; 1925, bequeathed by Robert J. Edwards to the MFA. [see note 2] (Accession Date: April 2, 1925)
NOTES:
[1] After the death of her husband, Diana Jones Mathews returned to her family home, Fonmon Castle, to live with her brother and his family. She took her paintings with her, where they remained until after her death.
[2] Siblings Robert (d. 1924), Hannah (d. 1929), and Grace (d. 1938) Edwards were each collectors of art, who seemed to have had joint ownership of the objects in their possession. When Robert died, he bequeathed his collection to the MFA in memory of their mother, Juliana Cheney Edwards. In 1925, after his death, part of his collection was acquired by the Museum, and the remainder went to his sisters, with the understanding that the objects would ultimately be left to the MFA in the collection begun in memory of their mother. The collections of Hannah and Grace were left to the MFA in 1939, following Grace's death. It is not always possible to determine exactly which paintings each sibling had owned.
NOTES:
[1] After the death of her husband, Diana Jones Mathews returned to her family home, Fonmon Castle, to live with her brother and his family. She took her paintings with her, where they remained until after her death.
[2] Siblings Robert (d. 1924), Hannah (d. 1929), and Grace (d. 1938) Edwards were each collectors of art, who seemed to have had joint ownership of the objects in their possession. When Robert died, he bequeathed his collection to the MFA in memory of their mother, Juliana Cheney Edwards. In 1925, after his death, part of his collection was acquired by the Museum, and the remainder went to his sisters, with the understanding that the objects would ultimately be left to the MFA in the collection begun in memory of their mother. The collections of Hannah and Grace were left to the MFA in 1939, following Grace's death. It is not always possible to determine exactly which paintings each sibling had owned.