National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Sir Joshua Reynolds
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

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Provenance

Commissioned by John Boydell [1719-1804], London; probably inherited by his nephew and business partner, Josiah Boydell [1752-1817], London. Possibly sold by an unidentified consigner at (Greenwood & Co., London, 3 April 1806, no. 49) and (Greenwood & Co., London, 21 May 1807, no. 40), purchaser not recorded.[1] Murrough O'Brien, 5th Earl of Inchiquin and 1st Marquis of Thomond [d. 1808];[2] by descent to his nephew, James O'Brien, 7th Earl of Inchiquin and 3rd Marquis of Thomond [1769-1855], Bath.[3] (T.H. Robinson, London, and M. Knoedler & Co., New York), October 1919; sold 11 December 1919 to Thomas B. Clarke [1848-1931], New York;[4] his estate; sold as part of the Clarke collection on 29 January 1936, through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York) to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] The Index of Paintings Sold in the British Isles during the Nineteenth Century, Burton B. Fredericksen, ed. (Santa Barbara, California and Oxford, England, 1990), 2: 951, as "Stuart, An Original Protrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, " consigned by "a gentleman," and as "G. Stuart, A Portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds." Only the second price is recorded, with some question, as three pounds, six pence. Since this is a very small price for a full-size portrait, perhaps these sales are instead for the "Small head, Sir Joshua Reynolds, sketch" attributed to Sturart that was sold at Christie's on 5 February 1818 by a Mr. Rising, with a small head of the Marquis of Landsown, also attributed to Stuart. The pair went for five guineas. (Information courtesy of The Getty Provenance Index, 7 April 1992).

[2] Jane Stuart, "The Youth of Gilbert Stuart," Scribner's Monthly 13, no. 5 (March 1877), 644 recorded that "Lord Inchiquin" paid 250 guineas for her father's portrait of Reynolds. It has been assumed that this was the 5th Earl, whose wife was Mary Palmer [d. 1820], Reynolds niece and heiress. On the Earls of Inchiquin see Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 104th ed., London, 1967, 1325-1330.

[3] According to Knoedler's records (letter from Melissa De Medeiros, librarian, 5 June 1992, NGA curatorial file), the portrait was from the estate of James O'Brien, the 3rd and last marquis of Thomond, and "the present Lord Inchiquin is unable to say when the picture left the family." Henry William Beechey, ed., The Literary Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, First President of the Royal Academy, rev. ed., 2 vols., London, 1855, 300, records the portrait and reproduces an engraving of it as his frontispieces, but he does not record any owner after Boydell.

[4] Knoedler purchased a joint share from T.H. Robinson in October 1919 and sold the painting to Clarke in December. The name of the seller and the date of purchase are recorded in a copy of Portraits by Early American Painters of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Collected by Thomas B. Clarke, (Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928) annotated with information from files of M. Knoedler & Co., NY (copy in NGA curatorial records and in NGA library).

Exhibition History

1786
John Boydell's Gallery, London, 1786.
1792
Possibly Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery, London, 1792-1802.
1922
Portraits Painted in Europe by Early American Artists, The Union League Club, New York, January 1922, no. 1.
1928
Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Collected by Thomas B. Clarke, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928-1931, unnumbered and unpaginated catalogue.
1944
Gilbert Stuart: Portraits Lent by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1944-1945, no. 1.
1967
Gilbert Stuart, Portraitist of the Young Republic, National Gallery of Art; Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, 1967, no. 12.
2004
Gilbert Stuart, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Gallery of Art (for the National Portrait Gallery), Washington, D.C., 2004-2005, no. 14, repro.

Bibliography

1784
Sir Joshua Reynolds' Diary, 1784, at the Royal Academy of Arts, London
1786
"Fabius." "The Arts. No. II. Alderman Boydell's Gallery." The Morning Post, and Daily Advertiser. 14 November 1786: 2.
1792
Felton, Samuel. Testimonies to the Genius and Memory of Sir Joshua Reynolds. London, 1792: 67.
1804
"Monthly Retrospect of the Fine Arts." Monthly Magazine; or British Register 17 (1 July 1804): 595.
1834
Dunlap 1834, I:184, 219.
1855
Beechy, Henry William, ed. The Literary Works of Sir Joshua Renolds, First President of the Royal Academy. Rev. ed., 2 vols. London, 1855:1:frontispiece, engraving by E. Scriven, 300.
1865
Leslie, Charles Robert and Tom Taylor. Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds, with Notices of some of his Contemporaries. 2 vols. London, 1865:2:468
1877
Stuart, Jane. "The Youth of Gilbert Stuart." Scribner's Monthly 13, no. 5 (March 1877):644
1879
Mason, George C. The Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart. New York, 1879: 248.
1880
MFA 1880, 52, no. 508
1913
Strickland, Walter G. A Dictionary of Irish Artists. 2 vols. Dublin and London, 1913:2:416
1922
Sherman, Frederick Fairchild. "Current Comment: Exhibitions." ArtAm 10, no. 3 (April, 1922):139 repro., 143-144.
1926
Park 1926, 641-642, no. 702, repro.
1928
Portraits by Early American Artists of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Collected by Thomas B. Clarke. Exh. cat. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1928, unnumbered.
1932
Whitley 1932, 46-47, 55-56
1949
Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 133, repro.
1959
Mount, Charles Merril. "A Hidden Treasure in Britain." The Art Quarterly 22, no. 3 (Autumn, 1959): 220, 223
1964
Mount 1964, 90, 362
1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 104, repro.
1974
Bruntjen, Hermann Arnold. John Boydell (1719-1804): A Study of Art Patronage and Publishing in Georgian London. Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1974:28-29, 36, 58, 63
1975
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 382, color repro.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 233, repro.
1981
Williams 1981, color repro. 50, 62.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 378, no. 534, color repro.
1985
Bruntjen, Sven H. A. John Boydell (1719-1804): A Study of Art Patronage and Publishing in Georgian London. New York and London, 1985: 28-29. 36, 58, 63.
1986
McLanathan, Richard. Gilbert Stuart. New York, 1986:51, 54, color repro.
1990
Harris, Eileen. "Robert Adam's Ornament for Alderman Boydell's Picture Frames." Furniture History: The Journal of the Furniture History Society. 26 (1990): 93-96, figs. 1-3
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 346, repro.
1993
Rather, Susan. "Stuart and Reynolds: A Portrait of Challenge." Eighteenth-Century Studies 27, no. 1 (Fall 1993): 61-84.
1995
Miles, Ellen G. American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 172-177, color repro. 175.
2000
Kirsh, Andrea, and Levenson, Rustin S. Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies. Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies, vol. 1. New Haven, 2000: 262.

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