A PORTRAIT of early 19th Century Northern landowner Frank Hall Standish, sitting astride his black mare and chatting to an acquaintance as members of the famous Quorn Hunt gather in the distance, fetched £164, 800 at auction yesterday.

The 1819 portrait of the wealthy art lover, who was born at Blackwell, Darlington, was bought by a private collector at Christie's, in London, for more than double its pre-sale lower estimate.

The 40ins by 50ins canvas was executed by John Ferneley Senior, one of Britain's most accomplished sporting artists.

The sitter - the only child of Anthony Hall, of Flass, Durham, and his wife Charlotte Rey - inherited the estate of his distant cousin, Sir Frank Standish, of Duxbury Hall, Chorley, Lancashire, in 1812, when he was only 13.

Assuming the name Standish by Royal licence, he spent much of the 1820s travelling in Europe and devoting much of his wealth to forming a considerable art collection.

He died unmarried at Cadiz in 1840, aged only 41, having sent most of his art collection and library to Duxbury Hall, and was buried in the Standish crypt at St Laurence's, Chorley. He bequeathed his entire collection to King Louis- Philippe of France.

Published: 21/05/2005