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Attributed to George Knapton George Knapton English, 1698 - 1778 A Graduate of Merton College, Oxford, c. 1754/1755 oil on canvas, 127.7 x 102.1 cm (50 1/4 x 40 1/4 in.) Gift of Mrs. Richard Southgate 1951.7.1 |
Object 2 of 6
Merton at Oxford University is among the oldest colleges in the English-speaking world. In 1264-1274, the chancellor of England, Walter de Merton, endowed it as a secular institution patterned after higher education in religious orders. This painting's background depicts Merton College, including its chapel tower, as seen from Christ Church Meadow; these thirteenth- to fifteenth-century buildings still stand. Details that show changes to the architecture date the picture to around 1754/1755.
The unidentified youth wears the black gown of an undergraduate, a robe without a hood. He holds a black mortarboard and wears a simple white cravat. (Today, Oxford’s male students wear white bow ties.) Underneath this plain gown, though, he sports a satin coat and a waistcoat with ostentatious embroidery.
The absence of sleeves on his academic robe marks this aristocrat as a “commoner,” meaning a student who paid tuition. A gown with short sleeves indicates a “scholar,” or someone who required a financial grant.
The painter George Knapton, son of a prosperous London bookseller, spent seven years studying in Italy. A major artist in pastel chalks, Knapton capped his career as curator of the British royal picture collection.
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