Members of the Maynard Family in the Park at Waltons
Arthur Devis·c. 1755/1762
Historical Context
Members of the Maynard Family in the Park at Waltons, painted by Arthur Devis around 1755 to 1762, is a substantial conversation piece depicting the Maynard family within the grounds of Waltons Park in Essex, the family seat. Estate portraiture of this kind served as a declaration of landed gentility, the rolling park itself functioning as a symbol of wealth, taste, and hereditary possession. Devis's distinctive style — small, precisely drawn figures in immaculate costume, arranged in parkland with studied informality — was ideally suited to this social function. The Maynard family was of middling gentry rank, exactly the social stratum most keenly consumed with asserting its status through visual means. The painting thus documents both a particular family and a broader cultural moment in which English identity was being constructed through the imagery of country house life.
Technical Analysis
Devis deploys his characteristic formula: small figures in a wide landscape, their scale diminished to show the extent of the estate. The figures are arranged with careful spacing to suggest casual grouping, though in fact each pose is formally deliberate. The palette favours cool greens and blue-grey skies, the light even and clear.
Provenance
Painted for Sir William Maynard, 4th bt. [1721-1772], Waltons, Ashdon, Essex; by descent to Frances, Countess of Warwick,[1] who offered it as property of the Maynard Collection at (sale, Sotheby's, London, 21 November 1934, no. 34, bought in); offered again, as property of the late Frances, Countess of Warwick, and of the Hon. Maynard and Mrs. Greville at (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 28 May 1948, no. 25), bought by Hemming. Walter Hutchinson, London; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 20 July 1951, no. 87, bought in); (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 7 October 1955, no. 24); purchased by (Betts) for (Montague Bernard), who sold it to (Ackermann), from whom it was purchased 1960 by Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; gift 1964 to NGA. [1] She was the elder daughter and co-heir of Col. the Hon. Charles Henry Maynard, son of the 3rd and last Viscount Maynard [1786-1865].
