FDA-P.291-2010
Parts
Object number
FDA-P.291-2010
Object type
Identification
Title
Edmund Antrobus
Title Type
assigned by cataloguer
Description
Half-length painted portrait of a young man wearing a brown coat and waistcoat, and a white stock, holding a document
Comments
Eton Leaving Portraits are portraits of an (Old) Etonians, painted to mark their time at the College. There are some 280 in the College Collections. The earliest is attributed to Thomas Hudson (1701–1779) and was painted in 1754. The most recent are by photographic artist Tereza Cervenova and were made in 2024.
The tradition evolved from the earlier custom of boys presenting Leaving Money to the Head Master as they left the College. Edward Barnard was the first Head Master to request a Leaving Portrait in addition to the money. Barnard continued to honour one or two boys with the privilege of presenting their portrait each year. Later, Head Master Joseph Goodall suggested that boys present drawn portraits (1850s examples are in the ground floor Coat Lobby), explaining ‘it is by no means my wish to make this an expensive compliment’. Works were given directly to Head Masters, who later presented their collections to the College. Some Head Masters became Provosts and so displays of portraits moved into the Lodge.
Most Leaving Portraits were painted within three years of the sitter leaving the College. However, Charles James Fox, whose portrait can be seen on the Main Staircase, is shown at 13, while Frederick Irby, whose portrait is in a boarding house, was painted from an earlier portrait in the year he turned 36. Leaving Portraits are generally on 30 x 20 inch canvases, a standard portrait size. However, there are many exceptions, such as Sir Thomas Lawrence’s impressive and larger portrait of Edmund Antrobus (Main Staircase). Two distinct portraits of the sitter were often commissioned, so that both the College and the sitter’s family each received a portrait, neither being considered a copy.
By the end of the 1850s, the recurrent Leaving Portrait tradition had died out. But it has since been reignited several times by Head Masters and Provosts, the first being M. R. James, who commissioned several Leaving Portraits on behalf of the College.
Sitter was at Eton from 1805 to 1809. He was nephew and heir to Sir Edmund Antrobus, 1st Baronet and afterwards became the 2nd Baronet and a Coutts partner. He matriculated to St John's College, Cambridge.
The tradition evolved from the earlier custom of boys presenting Leaving Money to the Head Master as they left the College. Edward Barnard was the first Head Master to request a Leaving Portrait in addition to the money. Barnard continued to honour one or two boys with the privilege of presenting their portrait each year. Later, Head Master Joseph Goodall suggested that boys present drawn portraits (1850s examples are in the ground floor Coat Lobby), explaining ‘it is by no means my wish to make this an expensive compliment’. Works were given directly to Head Masters, who later presented their collections to the College. Some Head Masters became Provosts and so displays of portraits moved into the Lodge.
Most Leaving Portraits were painted within three years of the sitter leaving the College. However, Charles James Fox, whose portrait can be seen on the Main Staircase, is shown at 13, while Frederick Irby, whose portrait is in a boarding house, was painted from an earlier portrait in the year he turned 36. Leaving Portraits are generally on 30 x 20 inch canvases, a standard portrait size. However, there are many exceptions, such as Sir Thomas Lawrence’s impressive and larger portrait of Edmund Antrobus (Main Staircase). Two distinct portraits of the sitter were often commissioned, so that both the College and the sitter’s family each received a portrait, neither being considered a copy.
By the end of the 1850s, the recurrent Leaving Portrait tradition had died out. But it has since been reignited several times by Head Masters and Provosts, the first being M. R. James, who commissioned several Leaving Portraits on behalf of the College.
Sitter was at Eton from 1805 to 1809. He was nephew and heir to Sir Edmund Antrobus, 1st Baronet and afterwards became the 2nd Baronet and a Coutts partner. He matriculated to St John's College, Cambridge.
Description
Content (person)
Dimensions
height (sight size): 905mm
width (sight size): 700mm
height (frame): 1238mm
width (frame): 1030mm
depth (frame): 125mm
weight: 21.5kg
width (sight size): 700mm
height (frame): 1238mm
width (frame): 1030mm
depth (frame): 125mm
weight: 21.5kg
Inscription
I.D. label on frame
Materials & techniques note
Oil on canvas
Physical description
Original carved and gilded frame with acanthus leaves and shells at the corners
Production
Person
Lawrence, Thomas (Sir), 1769 - 1830 (Artist)
Date
c.1809
History and association
Object history note
Provenance: Commissioned by the sitter or his family; by whom presented to the Head Master of Eton College
References
• Cust, L., Eton College Portraits, 1910 (p.35, no.96, Plate XXXIV)
• Armstrong, Sir. W., Lawrence, Methuen, 1913 (p.110)
• Garlick, K., Sir Thomas Lawrence: a complete catalogue of the oil paintings, Phaidon, 1989 (p.139, catalogue number 39b)
• Armstrong, Sir. W., Lawrence, Methuen, 1913 (p.110)
• Garlick, K., Sir Thomas Lawrence: a complete catalogue of the oil paintings, Phaidon, 1989 (p.139, catalogue number 39b)
