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John David Duval was the eldest child
of John (or Jean) Duval (1747-1807), originally of Geneva, and Elizabeth
Beaufel de Vismes, daughter of Philip de Vismes; he was born in London on 31st
December 1773.
Details of Duval’s life are
obscure prior to his being gazetted ensign, without purchase, in the 3rd West
India Regiment in 1799 at the comparatively late age of 25. Given his
father’s trade as a well-known diamond merchant, it is surprising that
Duval was commissioned without purchase into a very unfashionable regiment.
What is equally surprising is that he chose to remain with the 3rd West India
Regiment for nearly two years before being promoted, also without purchase,
into the 27th Light Dragoons - in the uniform of which regiment Phillips
painted him in early 1801. He must have sailed for India, where the 27th was
stationed, soon after having his portrait painted.
Once he had arrived in India, he
transferred as a lieutenant from the 27th to the 19th Light Dragoons in March
1803 and was appointed Aide-de-Camp to the Commander-in-Chief,
Lieutenant-General Gerard Lake. The 3rd Mahratha War began early in 1803 and
so, although the remainder of the 19th Light Dragoons were in the south of
India, campaigning under Wellesley, Duval’s appointment as ADC to the
C-in-C kept him in the north. It was as Lake’s ADC that he was killed in
action at the Battle of Delhi on 11th September 1803.
This painting was previously sold at
Sotheby's on 15th November 1989,
as “The Property of a
Gentleman”,
at which time its provenance was given as:
Sarah
Duval, later Lady Hall, niece of the sitter;
Lewis Duval, grandson of the
above;
Dilys Thornton-Jones, granddaughter of the above.
Oil on canvas by Thomas Phillips RA.
Sold as lot 467 by Sotheby's at Fawley House, Oxfordshire,
14-15
October 2003.
Reproduced by courtesy of The Hon. David McAlpine. |
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