Attributed to Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, 1st Baronet, R.A. (London, 1735-1811), Portrait of a Lord Mayor of London

oil on canvas laid on board, three quarter length, unsigned, unframed.
49 1/2 x 39 3/4 in.
This portrait of a Lord Mayor of London has been traditionally identified as Sir Brook Watson, 1st Baronet (1735-1807). A close study of the figure, who clearly retains both legs, discredits this identification.

Sir Brook Watson was a successful British born merchant, soldier and politician. He was easily identified due to the loss of a leg after a shark attack in the waters off Cuba at the age of 14. This event was immortalized by John Singleton Copley's painting, Watson and the Shark, commissioned by Watson and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1778.
Grosvenor Blaine Clarkson (1882-1937), New York.
with The Norton Galleries, New York, by 1933, where acquired by the following
with Robert C. Vose Galleries, Boston, in 1933, where (possibly) acquired by
Booth Tarkington (1869-1946), Kennebunkport, ME, by 1935.
with Robert C. Vose Galleries, Boston, by 1944, where acquired by
The John Herron Art Institute, later the Indianapolis Museum of Art, in 1944.
Christie's, Old Master Paintings and Sculpture, June 19, 2020 (lot 133)

Literature:
F.W. Bayley, The life and works of John Singleton Copley, founded on the work of Augustus Thorndike Perkins, Boston, 1915, p. 254, as a portrait of Sir Brooke Watson said to be by John Singleton Copley, and erroneously stating that the portrait had belonged to Mr. Pulitzer of New York.
Boston Sunday Post, 24 February 1935, illustrated.
Boston Sunday Post, 19 January 1936, illustrated.
Boston Sunday Post, 2 February 1936.
Milwaukee Art Institute, Bulletin of the Milwaukee Art Institute 12, no. 7, March 1938, illustrated on the cover.
Atlanta Art Association, High Museum of Art, Museum News 1, no. 1, March 1941.
D.E.W. Gibb, Lloyd's of London: A Study of Individualism, London, 1957, illustrated, as by John Singleton Copley of Sir Brook Watson.
E. Spaeth, "American Art Museums and Galleries," New York, 1960, 108-9, illustrated, as by John Singleton Copley of Sir Brook Watson.
The Vincent Price Treasury of American Art, Waukesha, WI, 1972, p. 22, illustrated, as by John Singleton Copley of Sir Brook Watson.

Exhibited
Portland, ME, L.D.M. Sweat Memorial Museum, January-May 1935.
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, January-June 1936.
Brunswick, ME, Walker Gallery, Bowdoin College, January-May 1937.
Montreal, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, The Painter and the New World, 9 June-30 July 1967, no. 122, as by John Singleton Copley of Sir Brook Watson.
Omaha, NE, Joslyn Art Museum, The Growing Spectrum of American Art, 20 September-9 November 1975, no. 19, as by John Singleton Copley of Sir Brook Watson.

Additional high-resolution photos are available at www.lelandlittle.com