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

96 91 THOMAS FRYE (1710-1762) Portrait of an Elderly Gentleman in Brown Velvet Jacket Oil on canvas, 75 x 62cm (29.5 x 24.4”) Signed, dated 1745 and inscribed ‘Aged 88’ Provenance: With Gimbel Brothers, New York; Sale, Sotheby’s New York, 17th January 1991, Lot no. 124, where purchased. € 5,000 - 8,000 Born in Edenderry, Co. Offaly into an Anglo-Irish family, Thomas Frye went as a young man to London where he commenced painting portraits in oils, pastel, charcoal and in miniature. His big break came with the commission from the Hall of the Saddlers, Cheapside in London to paint a full-length portrait of Frederick, Prince of Wales. This important work brought the young artist a great deal of attention and was the catalyst for a successful practice as a portrait painter. He developed a close and life-long friendship with Sir Joshua Reynolds. Described by Walter Strickland as a clever and versatile artist, in 1744 he became interested in a pro- ject for making porcelain and with Edward Heyleyn developed the Bow factory. Frye became manager and for a period of fifteen years devoted virtually all his time and energy to the creation of porcelain of distinction. However, he was forced in 1759 to withdraw from the management of the business due to ill-health and resumed his portraiture practice. Frye’s artistic legacy also includes the development of the mezzotint into an artform in itself - a print- making process which enabled half-tones to be produced without using line or dot-based techniques, achieving tonality with a high level of quality and richness which was particularly useful in the pro- duction of portraits. In the 18th century the mezzotint was viewed largely as a reproductive process slavishly copying the fashionable portraits of the day. However, Frye was using mezzotint as a form of artistic expression in itself, his head series of portraits were conceived as mezzotints, executed as mezzotints, as original works of art and so from an 18th century point of view his approach was com- pletely unique.