ASCRIBED TO MATTHEW HAUGHTON (1772-1848) A portrait of Benja...

Hammer

£220

ASCRIBED TO MATTHEW HAUGHTON (1772-1848) A portrait of Benjamin Danford inscribed verso, oil on bevelled board, unframed, 21cm x 16cm 'Lines On Mr. Benjn. Danford’s portrait painted by Matt. Haughton.

See a brave hardy veteran portray’d to your view,

Whose hearts like the coats of his regiment true blue !

Who for full forty years brav’d the perils of war

Without losing a limb or receiving a scar,

When shipmates and friends found a watery grave,

Who hath often encounter’d the boisterous wave,

Who midst his brave comrades disdaining to yield,

Hath as often brav’d death on the dangerous field.

Though but poorly requited for services so hard,

May his country yet grateful confer its reward!

And long may he live social hearty and free

Belov’d by his friends many years yet to see!

And when cruel fate shall his vital thread sever,

He shall live in our tender remembrance for ever,

And whilst his pale day lies beneath the green sod,

May his soul find repose in the arms of his God!'



Provenance: Purchased form The Hayhurst Collection in 2016.

Note: Little is known of Benjamin Danford, though clearly he had a distinguished naval career. The National Archives contain a 1787 record of a naval purser with that name. Haughton studied at the Royal Academy Schools in 1790. He moved to Liverpool in the 1790s and became a protégé of William Roscoe (1753 -1831). His father was Moses Haughton the elder (1735-1804), a miniature and portrait painter (National Museums Liverpool).