GEORGE BEARE (fl. 1740-1749) A portrait of William Coles of Salisbury (1701-1789)

GEORGE BEARE (fl. 1740-1749) A portrait of William Coles of Salisbury (1701-1789), depicted half-length, the sitter wearing a white wig resting on his shoulders, an open brown tunic over a waistcoat with gold buttons and brocade, signed "G. Beare pinxt" lower left, feigned oval, oil on canvas, 75cm x 62cm; together with the companion portrait of his wife Jane Coles (1708/9-1801) , depicted half length together with her cat, signed "G. Beare pinxt" lower right, feigned oval, oil on canvas, 75cm x 62cm (2) George Beare was a portrait painter who worked mainly in the West Country. Little is known of his training, but some fifty signed paintings, all dated between 1744 and 1749, suggest a knowledge of Philip Mercier (1691-1760) and particularly of William Hogarth (1697-1764), with whom he has sometimes been confused. William and Jane Coles of The Close, Salisbury, Wiltshire had one daughter, also called Jane (c.1742-1801), who married Thomas Hutchings Medlycott (1729-1795) on 16th September 1766. Medlycott was a practising barrister and MP for Milborne Port, Somerset, between 1763 and 1770 and again in 1790. The Medlycott Family owned Ven House in Milborne Port throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, until they sold much of the estate between 1918 and 1925. The house itself was let to a succession of tenants until Sir Hubert Mervyn Medlycott sold it in 1957. A memorial to William and Jane Coles, together with their daughter Jane Medlycott and granddaughter Jane Paget Ainslie, can be found in Salisbury Cathedral today.