Adam's HOMAN POTTERTON A LIFETIME OF COLLECTING 7th September 2021

104 96 JOHN LEWIS (FL.1736-1776) Portrait of a Lady in a Blue Silk Dress Oil on canvas, painted oval, 75 x 63cm (29.5 x 24.8”) Signed and dated 1774 € 2,000 - 4,000 Scant information is available about Lewis before he was engaged as a scene painter at Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin. At that time the theatre was run by Jonathan Swift’s godson the playwright, Thomas Sheridan (1719-1788). Sheridan is credited with gentrifying the neighbourhood around the theatre and returning the title of ‘Theatre Royal’ to Smock Alley. Lewis lives on in Irish theatrical history as the first scene-painter to be permanently engaged on the staff of a Dublin playhouse, a role that lasted from 1750 until 1757. He seems to have aligned himself with Sheridan and when the Director retired in 1754, Lewis too ceased his involvement with the theatre only to return later when Sheridan resumed the management. Strickland noted that Lewis painted a beautiful ‘act-drop’ for Smock Alley at a time when London theatres had nothing but the usual green curtain. He also painted three or four sets of scenes including one for “The Emperor of the Moon” in 1757, the final year of his involvement with the theatre. Throughout his time in Dublin he devoted much of his spare time to painting portraits, including one of Sheridan himself and the actress Peg Woffington, which is now in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Ireland. On a visit to Quilca House, near Mullagh in Co. Cavan, Sheridan’s family home, he decorated the parlour with painted clouds on the ceiling and portraits of Sheridan, Swift, Shakespeare and Milton along with allegorical figures on the east wall. The house fell into decay a short time later and all but one of the decorations were lost.