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Provenance

Philip Longmore [1799-1879], Stevenage, Hertfordshire. (Wallis & Son, London); sold 1893 to Peter A.B. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park; gift 1942 to NGA.

Technical Summary

The medium-weight canvas is plain woven; it has been lined. The white ground is thickly applied, and masks the weave of the canvas. The painting is executed in thick, rich paint, blended wet into wet, with heavy brushstrokes creating ridges and using impasted passages and a few translucent glazes to create form and to color the cheeks; the contours and features are blurred. The middle-tone glazes have been abraded, and the impasto has been flattened during lining, which was carried out with a great deal of pressure; there are numerous retouchings in the flesh tones and there is probably extensive retouching in the darker areas. The natural resin varnish, pigmented black, has discolored yellow to a significant degree; residues of an older, deep amber varnish create a disturbing, independent colored pattern.

Bibliography

1915
Roberts, William. Pictures in the Collection of P.A.B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: British and Modern French Schools, Philadelphia, 1915: unpaginated, repro., as by Sir Joshua Reynolds
1923
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923: unpaginated, repro.
1931
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 10, repro.
1942
Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 6, as by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
1948
Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 82, repro., as by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 114, as by Reynolds.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 101, repro., as by Reynolds.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 304, repro., as Follower of Reynolds.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 350, repro., as by Follower of Reynolds.
1992
Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 109-110, repro. 109.

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