The Frankland Sisters
John Hoppner·1795
Historical Context
Hoppner's Frankland Sisters from 1795 is one of his most admired double portraits, depicting two sisters in the informal outdoor setting that had become fashionable for female portraiture following Gainsborough's example. The sisters' interaction — one reaching toward the other, faces turned toward the viewer — creates the appearance of a momentary pause in natural activity rather than a formal pose, a compositional strategy that gave commissioned portraiture the quality of observed life. Hoppner was competing directly with Lawrence for London's fashionable portrait commissions in the 1790s, and works like the Frankland Sisters demonstrated his ability to match Lawrence's elegance while maintaining the psychological directness he had learned from Reynolds.
Technical Analysis
Hoppner's warm palette and fluid brushwork create a sense of natural intimacy between the two sisters. The flesh tones are luminous and carefully differentiated, while the white dresses are rendered with broad, confident strokes. The landscape background adds atmospheric depth without competing with the figures.
Provenance
Painted for the sitters' father, Sir Thomas Frankland, 6th Bt. [1750-1831], Thirkleby, Yorkshire; by descent to his granddaughter, Rosalind Alicia Frankland-Russel-Astley [d. 1900], Chequers Court, Buckinghamshire; sold c. 1896 to (Thos. Agnew & Sons, London); purchased 1896 by John H. McFadden. Presumably sold back to (Thos. Agnew & Sons, London);[1] purchased 1898 by Sir Charles Clow Tennant, 1st bt. [1823-1906], The Glen, near Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, Scotland; by descent to his grandson, Christopher Grey Tennant, 2nd baron Glenconner [1899-1983], The Glen; sold July 1923 to (Charles Carstairs for M. Knoedler & Co., London and New York);[2] purchased November 1923 by Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA. [1] Geoffrey (later Sir Geoffrey) Agnew, _Agnew's 1817-1967_, London, 1967, 36, pl. The plate records J.H. McFadden and Sir Charles Tennant as the owners in 1896 and 1898 respectively. [2] James Dugdale, "Sir Charles Tennant: the Story of a Victorian Collector," _Connoisseur_ 178 (1971), 11-12. A group of ten paintings was purchased by Carstairs in July 1923 and was exhibited in 1924 at Knoedler's new headquarters in New York, whence the Hoppner was purchased by Andrew Mellon shortly before the exhibition.
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