Samuel Woodforde, R.A

Abraham Caldecott, Lord of the Manor of Rugby (1763–1829), by 1815;

Thence by family descent until sold ('By order of the executors of Mrs Caldecott, deceased'), London, Christie's, 27 January 1900, lot 92, for £21 to Castaneda;

Private collection, Spain.

This work, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1814, looks back at paintings from the Dutch Golden Age. In particular, the format of a figure at a window was made famous by artists such as Gerrit Dou (1613–1675), Rembrandt (1606–1669) and Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627–1678). Rembrandt's Girl learning on a Window–sill, which may have served as inspiration for Woodforde's canvas, was in a British aristocratic collection during the late eighteenth-century and was later bequeathed to Dulwich Picture Gallery in 1811.¹ Samuel Woodforde's painting was engraved by William Ward A.R.A in 1815, where it was recorded as being in the collection of Abraham Caldecott, Lord of the Manor of Rugby (1763–1829).

¹ P. Murray, Dulwich Picture Gallery: A Catalogue, London 1980, p. 101, no. 163 reproduced.