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A clean-shaven, pale-skinned man with gray, powdered hair stands in the middle of a grassy landscape in this vertical portrait painting. He has smooth skin with hazel eyes under thick brows, a long nose, and his full, pale pink lips are closed. He stands facing us with his ankles crossed and his head turned slightly to look off to our right. A knee-length, ginger-brown jacket has a row of gold-colored buttons, the size of checkers pieces, down the front and lacy cuffs at the end of a row of three more buttons on each sleeve. One button is fastened across his chest over a white cravat and goldenrod-yellow vest patterned with tiny brown specks. His left hand, on our right, hangs down, holding a navy-blue tricorn hat next to navy breeches. White stockings cover his lower legs, and his black shoes have gleaming brass buckles. He leans his right hand, to our left, on the head of a wood walking stick, which is propped against that hip. The landscape around him is carpeted in shades of muted green with touches of golden yellow. White and dark pink flowers grow in clusters around his feet, and a grove of slender trees climbs a low hill on our right. Blue-green trees and vegetation stretch into the distance to meet a light blue body of water along the left edge of the painting. Low on the horizon, which comes about a fifth of the way up the composition, a mountain is hazy blue in the deep distance. Patches of vivid blue sky peek through swirling white, gray, and pale peach clouds that fill most of the background.

Sir Joshua Reynolds

John Musters, 1777-c. 1780

West Building, Main Floor - Gallery 59

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 238.5 x 147.3 cm (93 7/8 x 58 in.)

framed: 267.7 x 175.6 cm (105 3/8 x 69 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Given in memory of Governor Alvan T. Fuller by The Fuller Foundation, Inc.

Accession Number

1961.2.2

Artists / Makers

Sir Joshua Reynolds (artist) British, 1723 - 1792

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

Painted for the sitter, John Musters [1753-1827], Colwick Hall, Nottinghamshire; probably by inheritance to his son, John Musters [1777-1849], Colwick Hall; (his estate sale, at Colwick Hall by J.M. Pott, 9-13 and 16 December 1850, 4th day [Dec. 12], no. 680, bought in); by inheritance to his grandson, John Chaworth Musters [1838-1887], Annesley Park, Colwick Hall, and Wiverton Hall; his estate; sold 3 July 1888 to (Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London); sold 10 July 1888 to Sir Edward Cecil Guinness [later 1st earl of Iveagh, 1847-1927], Dublin, London, Cowes, and Elveden Hall, Suffolk; sold 19 November 1892 back to (Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London); sold 29 June 1897 to (William Lockett Agnew, London).[1] private collection ["a lady"]; consigned for her by (William Lockett Agnew, London) to (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 27 April 1901, no.101); (Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London); sold two days later to Charles Richard John Spencer-Churchill, 9th duke of Marlborough [1871-1934];[2] (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 14 June 1907, no. 104); bought by (Lane) for Sir W. Hutcheson Poë, Bt., Batchwood Hall, near St. Albans;[3] (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 8 July 1927, no. 58); (Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London);[4] sold the same month to Alvan T. Fuller [1878-1958], Boston; The Fuller Foundation, Boston; gift 1961 to NGA.

[1] The purchase of the painting by Guinness and its sale back to Agnew is discussed in Julius Bryant, Kenwood: Paintings in the Iveagh Bequest, New Haven and London, 2003: 15, 354 fig. 2, 356-357, 417; this reference was kindly brought to the Gallery's attention by a descendant of the sitter, Robert Chaworth-Musters, in an e-mail of 7 July 2015, copy in NGA curatorial files. The Thos. Agnew & Sons Ltd. Archive was acquired in 2014 by the National Gallery Archive, London, and the picture stock books have since been digitized and made available on-line. The Reynolds is recorded on page 92 of the stock book for 1885-1891 (reference number NGA27/1/1/7), and on page 35 of the stock book for 1891-1898 (reference number NGA27/1/1/8); copies in NGA curatorial files.

[2] Agnew stock books, recorded by The Getty Provenance Index, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, California. See also letter of 9 June 1988 from Martha Hepworth at The Getty Provenance Index, in NGA curatorial files.

[3] The Getty Provenance Index records Lane as the buyer for Poë.

[4] Details of the consignors and buyers at the 1901, 1907, and 1927 Christie's sales were kindly confirmed by Lynda McLeod, Librarian, Christie's Archives, in her e-mail of 1 August 2012, in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Agnew & Sons, Ltd., Thomas
Agnew, William Lockett
Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd.
Fuller Foundation, Inc.
Fuller, Alvan T.
Musters, II, John
Musters, John
Musters, John Chaworth
Poë, 1st Bt., William Hutcheson, Sir
Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough, Charles Richard John

Exhibition History

1878: Opening Exhibition of the Midland Counties Art Museum, Castle, Nottingham, 1878-1879, no. 57.

1885: Works by the Old Masters, and by Deceased Masters of the British School. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1885, no. 189.

1895: 20 Masterpieces of the English School, Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London, 1895, no. 15.

1910: Japan-British Exhibition, Shepherd's Bush, London, 1910, no. 9, repro.

1928: Exhibition of Paintings Loaned by Governor Alvan T. Fuller, Art Club, Boston, 1928, no. 24.

1939: Art in New England: Paintings, Drawings, Prints from Private Collections in New England, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1939, no. 109, pl. 56.

1959: A Memorial Exhibition of the Collection of the Honorable Alvan T. Fuller, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1959, no. 20, repro.

2002: Loan to display with permanent collection, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California, 2002-2003.

Technical Summary

The canvas is twill woven; it has been lined. The ground is white, of moderate thickness. What remains of the original paint in the face and figure is freely applied in thick, opaque layers, blended wet into wet. The sky and background are severely abraded and very heavily overpainted; the sitter's hair and neck are also overpainted. The costume was overpainted c. 1820; this overpaint was removed and the picture restored to its original state in 1872.[1] The coat is badly abraded and has been extensively retouched. The impasto has been flattened during lining. The heavy natural resin varnish has not discolored.

[1] Graves and Cronin 1899-1901, 2:682.

Bibliography

1865: Leslie, Charles Robert and Tom Taylor. Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds. 2 vols. London, 1865: 2:202, 302.

1899: Graves, Algernon and William Vine Cronin. A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds. 4 vols. London, 1899-1901: 2:487-488.

1900: Armstrong, Sir Walter. Sir Joshua Reynolds. London, 1900: 221.

1941: Waterhouse, Sir Ellis. Reynolds. London, 1941: 69, pl. 192.

1963: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 319, repro., as Squire Musters.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 114, as Squire Musters.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 101, repro., as Squire Musters.

1969: Watson, Ross. "British Paintings in the National Gallery of Art." The Connoisseur 172 (1969): 56, repro., 57-58.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 304, repro., as Squire Musters.

1975: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: no. 505, color repro.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 12, repro. 14, as Squire Musters.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 361, no. 502, color repro., as Squire Musters.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 349, repro., as Squire Musters.

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: 215-217, repro. 216.

2003: Bryant, Julius. Kenwood: Paintings in the Iveagh Bequest. New Haven and London, 2003: 15, 352, 354 fig. 2, 356-357, 417.