Robert Udny

Udny was one of seven sons of James Udny (died 1761), an advocate in Aberdeen, and his wife Jean Walker.{{cite book |title=The genealogist : Marshall, George W. (George William), 1839-1905|date=1877|volume=II|pages=88–89 |url=https://archive.org/details/genealogist00mars/page/88/mode/2up |language=en}} He became a sugar merchant, the owner of the Calivigny estate in Grenada.{{cite web |title=Collections Online, Robert Udny, British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG49095 |website=www.britishmuseum.org}}{{cite web |title=Robert Udny of Udny, ????–1802, Legacies of British Slave-ownership |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146644869 |website=www.ucl.ac.uk}}

In 1767, Udny was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, then of Broad Street.{{cite book |last1=London |first1=Society of Antiquaries of |title=A List of the Members of the Society of Antiquaries of London, from Their Revival in 1717, to June 19, 1796. Arranged in Chronological and Alphabetical Order |date=1798 |publisher=John Nichols |page=20 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZppbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA20 |language=en}} In 1774, then of Cavendish Square, he began to buy and deal in property in Hertfordshire, with a purchase from John Hadley the younger (born 1738), son of John Hadley the astronomer.{{cite book |last1=Cass |first1=Frederick Charles |title=East Barnet |date=1885 |publisher=London and Middlesex Archæological Society, by Nichols & Sons |location=Westminster |pages=82 and 86 |url=https://archive.org/details/eastbarnet00cass/page/n107/mode/2up}} He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1785.{{cite book |last1=Thomson |first1=Thomas |title=History of the Royal Society: From Its Institution to the End of the Eighteenth Century |date=1812 |publisher=R. Baldwin |page=lix |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nqjjR4Qt9IgC&pg=PR59 |language=en}} He inherited property at Dudwick, Aberdeenshire in 1786 on the death of Robert Fullerton, a soldier of fortune and cousin.{{cite web |title=Dudwick House, Canmore |url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/20421/dudwick-house |website=canmore.org.uk |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Godsman |first1=James |title=A History of the Burgh and Parish of Ellon, Aberdeenshire |date=1958 |publisher=W. & W. Lindsay |page=128 |language=en}}

Udny later bought property in the London area, starting with a house in the High Street, Teddington in 1789, which became Udny House. A picture gallery was added, involving Robert Adam.{{cite web |title=Robert Udney, West India merchant - Twickenham Museum |url=http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.php?aid=67&ctid=1&cid=12 |website=www.twickenham-museum.org.uk}}{{cite web |title=Udny House|url=http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/building_full.php?id=420851 |website=www.scottisharchitects.org.uk}} He subsequently bought a house in Mayfair. He died there, in a town house in Hertford Street.{{cite web |title=Teddington, Middlesex, designs for a house and stables for Robert Udney, possibly executed, c1789 (5) |url=http://collections.soane.org/ARC9829 |website=collections.soane.org}}

Using his brother John as agent, Udny made many purchases of Italian paintings: John Udny was a British consul for 35 years, first in Venice, and then in Livorno.{{cite book |last1=Ingamells |first1=John |title=A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy, 1701-1800 |date=2007|chapter=W |publisher=Yale University Press, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art |pages=961–963 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt1xp3ngj.31 |jstor=j.ctt1xp3ngj.31|isbn=9780300071658 }} Udny and his family visited Italy in 1769–1770, passing through Turin to Rome, and then went on to Venice.{{cite book |last1=Ingamells |first1=John |title=A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy, 1701-1800 |date=2007|chapter=W |publisher=Yale University Press, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art |pages=963–964 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt1xp3ngj.31 |jstor=j.ctt1xp3ngj.31|isbn=9780300071658 }}

Udny assisted the print collector Charles Rogers (1711–1784).{{cite book |last1=Nichols |first1=John Bowyer |title=Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century by John Nichols |date=1858 |publisher=J. B. Nichols |page=452|volume=VIII |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXettTn8UXoC&pg=PA452 |language=en}} He was noted in his time, not only as a collector, but also as a patron. He supported a visit in 1775 to Italy by the painter Edward Edwards.{{cite book |last1=Sandby |first1=William |title=The History of the Royal Academy of Arts from Its Foundation in 1768 to the Present Time: With Biographical Notices of All the Members |date=1862|volume=I |publisher=Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green |page=241 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nhYGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA241 |language=en}} In July 1786 George Romney, John Flaxman, Jeremiah Meyer and William Hayley visited Udny's collection at Teddington.{{cite journal |last1=Magreta |first1=Todd Jerome |title=George Romney's late group portraits at Abbot Hall and Yale |journal=The British Art Journal |date=2007 |volume=8 |issue=2 |page=60 |jstor=41614757 |issn=1467-2006}} In the 1790s the Udnys were on good terms with Ozias Humphrey, though Robert took against a portrait he had painted of his wife.{{cite book |last1=Williamson |first1=George Charles |title=Life and works of Ozias Humphry, R.A.|date=1918 |publisher=John Lane |location=London, New York |pages=343–344 |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeworksofozias00will/page/n343/mode/2up |language=en}}

The Burlington House Cartoon by Leonardo da Vinci was acquired by Udny from Italy in 1763, before passing to the Royal Academy.{{cite book |last1=Palmer |first1=Allison Lee |title=Leonardo da Vinci: A Reference Guide to His Life and Works |date=15 December 2018 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-1978-5 |page=151 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-tVyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA151 |language=en}} Before 1799, Udny had sent to Catherine the Great two other da Vinci cartoons, drawings of heads from his work The Last Supper.{{cite journal |last1=Wolk-Simon |first1=Linda |title=The 'Cartones of Leonardo da Vinci' |journal=The Burlington Magazine |date=2011 |volume=153 |issue=1296 |page=149 |jstor=23055900|issn=0007-6287}}

File:Guido Reni - Lucretia - Google Art Project.jpg, painting from the Robert Udny Collection sold in the Christie's sale 1804, now in the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo{{cite web |title=Guido Reni, Lucretia, Collection of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo |url=https://collection.nmwa.go.jp/en/P.2001-0001.html |website=collection.nmwa.go.jp}}]]

After Udny died in 1802, Richard Cosway designed a memorial for him. An engraving of the design was made by Jean Condé.{{cite book |last1=West |first1=Monticello |title=Maria Cosway: Thomas Jefferson's Femme Fatale or Failed Miniaturist Artist? |date=28 February 2015 |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=978-1-312-95521-9 |page=99 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Y90CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 |language=en}}

Udny's heiress was his daughter, Lady Cunynghame.{{cite web| url = http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/cunynghame-sir-william-augustus-1747-1828 | title= CUNYNGHAME, Sir William Augustus, 4th Bt. (1747–1828), of Livingstone, Linlithgow and Milncraig, Ayr.| publisher= History of Parliament Online| accessdate = 16 August 2020}} Having fallen out with her husband, Udny disposed his possessions in other directions. He left an interest in his estate to his nephew George Udny of the Bengal Civil Service. This was Robert George Udny (died 1830), son of his brother Ernest, who married Temperance Fleming: they were the parents of George Udny (1802–1879) the younger.{{cite book |last1=Boase |first1=Frederic |title=Modern English Biography: Containing Many Thousand Concise Memoirs of Persons who Have Died Since the Year 1850, with an Index of the Most Interesting Matter |year=1921 |publisher=Netherton and Worth, For the author |page=727 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V4AlIUFSvncC&pg=PA727 |language=en}} The compensation for the Grenada estate under the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, of £7,972, was paid to Temperance Udny.{{cite web |title=Temperance Sophia Udny (née Fleming) ???? - 1854 Legacies of British Slave-ownership |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/10571 |website=www.ucl.ac.uk}}

File:Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669) - Saint Cecilia - NG5284 - National Gallery.jpg, now in the National Gallery, London, painting from the Robert Udny Collection sold in the Christie's sale 1804 as a Domenichino{{cite journal |last1=Schleier |first1=Erich |title=An Unnoticed Early Work by Pietro da Cortona |journal=The Burlington Magazine |date=1970 |volume=112 |issue=812 |pages=752–759 |jstor=876449 |issn=0007-6287}}]]

Udny's wish, that the Royal Academy should be given a first option to purchase his collection, was respected by his executors, but no sale resulted.{{cite book |last1=Whitley |first1=William Thomas |title=Art in England, 1800-1820 |date=1928 |publisher=Macmillan |page=29 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tqsfBiOBDfYC |language=en}} The art collection was disposed of in a series of five auctions, the first, in 1802, being of prints, together with prints collected by his brother John who had died in 1800. In May 1804, at the final art sale, over 200 of Udny's paintings were sold at Christie's. There followed in July a sale of furniture, sculpture and porcelain.{{cite web |title=Sale Catalog Br-266 Sale Date 1804 May 18 - 1804 May 19 |url=https://piprod.getty.edu/starweb/pi/servlet.starweb?path=pi/pi.link5.web&search2=6806 |website=piprod.getty.edu}}{{cite web |title=Les Marques de Collections de Dessins & d'Estampes: L.2248 |url=http://www.marquesdecollections.fr/index.cfm/marque/L.2248 |website=www.marquesdecollections.fr |language=fr-FR}} Some unsold pictures passed to John Robert Udny, son of John Udny. The gallery at Udny House was taken down in 1825, and the house itself demolished in 1899.{{cite book |author=Howard Colvin|title=A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600–1840|year=1978|publisher=John Murray|isbn=0-7195-3328-7|page=55}}

File:Mrs Udny at Teddington Cosway.png c.1801, modified after Robert Udny's 1802 death]]

Udny married, firstly, Miss Hougham: she was sister to Ann Hougham, daughter of Culpeper Hougham, who married Spencer Compton, 8th Earl of Northampton;{{cite book |title=The genealogist : Marshall, George W. (George William), 1839-1905|date=1877|volume=II|pages=90 |url=https://archive.org/details/genealogist00mars/page/90/mode/2up |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Compton, Spencer (1738-96). History of Parliament Online |url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/compton-spencer-1738-96 |website=www.historyofparliamentonline.org}} according to Frederick Charles Cass, her given name was Mary, and they had a daughter Jane baptised 1763.{{cite book |last1=Cass |first1=Frederick Charles |title=East Barnet |date=1885 |publisher=Westminster : Printed for the London and Middlesex Archæological Society, by Nichols & Sons |page=133 note a |url=https://archive.org/details/eastbarnet00cass/page/n161/mode/2up}} Their daughter Mary married in 1785 Sir William Cunynghame, 4th Baronet. Udny married as his second wife Margaret Jordan, known as Martha.{{cite web |title=Portrait of Mrs Udny at Teddington, Middlesex;British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1904-0614-6 |website=The British Museum |language=en}}

In 1805 Martha Udny became the teacher to Princess Charlotte of Wales, with position of Sub-Governess. She died in 1831.{{cite book|last1=Smith |first1=Thomas|title=A Topographical and historical account of the Parish of St. Mary-le-bone|year=1833|page=96 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V6JfAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA96 |language=en}} It was rumoured that she was the mistress of Richard Cosway: Maria Cosway, his estranged wife, believed so, as documented in a letter to Pasquale Paoli, her lover, in a collection edited by Beretti.{{cite book |editor-last1=Beretti |editor-first1=Francis |title=Pascal Paoli à Maria Cosway, Lettres et documents 1782-1803 |date=2003 |publisher=Voltaire Foundation |page=14 |language=fr}}

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Category:1725 births

Category:1802 deaths

Category:18th-century Scottish merchants

Category:Scottish art collectors

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London