STUDIO OF SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE, PRA., FRS, 1769 - 1830, OIL ON CANVAS Portrait of Sir Felix Booth

STUDIO OF SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE, PRA., FRS, 1769 - 1830, OIL ON CANVAS
Portrait of Sir Felix Booth, Bart FRS, 1775 - 1850, framed with nameplate ‘Sir Felix Booth, Owner of the Royal Brewery, Brentford by Sir Thomas Lawrence’, in a swept giltwood and gesso frame.
(sight 62cm x 75cm, frame 88cm x 100cm)

Provenance: private collection, London, The Heineken Collection, UK ( until January, 2020), The Anchor Brewery, Southwark , The Royal Brewery at Brentford

N.B. Sir Felix Booth, was a wealthy British gin distiller, brewery owner, and celebrated promotor of Arctic exploration. In 1828, at the age of 48, he was elected a Sheriff of the City of London and of the County of Middlesex. It is likely he sat for this portrait at this time.

‘A portrait of Sir Felix Booth, as he thus became, survives, painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence, the leading portrait painter of the time, who was his neighbour in Russell Square.’ [p 36. The Kindred Spirit: A History of Gin and of the House of Booth. Newman Neame. Pub 1959]

Sir Felix lived at 43 Portland Place W1, with homes at Clarence Lodge, Roehampton and Great Catworth in Huntingdonshire.

In 1829, Booth provided £17,000 to fund the historic expedition led by Captain John Ross who commanded the first steam ship into the Arctic, as part of the quest to find the elusive Northwest Passage. The expedition was a watershed moment in the progress of geographical science, and settled the true co-ordinates for the magnetic pole. In recognition of Booth’s patronage, several new land discoveries along the north-eastern portion of North America were named in his honour: Gulf of Booth, Isthmus of Boothia, Contient of Booth Felix, Felix Harbour, Cape Felix and Sheriff’s Harbor.

His support for the expedition was further recognised with a knighthood in 1834.

Sir Felix was later painted around 1850 by William Bradley (1801-1857), and this portrait is known to have hung in the Court Room of the Coopers’ Company until it was destroyed during an air raid over London during WWII. According to a memoir left by William Percy, assistant to Bradley, written in June 1878, two further copies of this painting were commissioned “I remember, however, that I made two copies of that of Sir Felix Booth. These portraits were all half-lengths or whole-lengths, and I assisted Bradley with all of them.” [both untraced]

Booth is also thought to have sat in later life for John Philip Davis (1784-1862) [untraced].

The brand name “Booth’s Gin” which began in the 1740’s by Sir Felix’s ancestors, ceased production in 2017 when the owner Diageo Spirits, sold the name to the American Sazerac Company.

The Author is grateful to Dr. Peter Funnell and Dr. Brian Allen for their advice when compiling this entry.