Miss Beatrix Lister

1765

Sir Joshua Reynolds

Painter, British, 1723 - 1792

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Margaret Mellon Hitchcock

  • Dimensions

    overall: 74.9 x 62.2 cm (29 1/2 x 24 1/2 in.)
    framed: 92.4 x 79.4 cm (36 3/8 x 31 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1995.3.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

By inheritance to the sitter's son, Thomas Lister Parker [1779-1858], Browsholme, York County, until at least 1817;[1] probably by inheritance to Thomas Lister, 4th baron Ribblesdale [1854-1925], Gisburne Park, near Clitheroe, York County, from at least 1878;[2] purchased 2 July 1918 by (Thos. Agnew & Sons., Ltd., London); sold 27 February 1919 to Lady Michelham [d. 1927], London; sold 28 November 1921 back to (Thos. Agnew & Sons., Ltd., London);[3] sold 17 May 1923 to (Arthur J. Sulley & Co., London).[4] Mr. and Mrs. William Larimer Mellon, Pittsburgh, by 1925;[5] their daughter, Margaret Mellon Hitchcock [Mrs. Thomas Mellon Hitchcock, b. 1901], New York; gift 1995 to NGA.
[1] He lent the painting to an exhibition in 1817.
[2] The sitter's brother, Thomas Lister [1752-1826], was created the first Baron Ribblesdale in 1797. According to Algernon Graves and William Vine Cronin (A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, 4 vols., London, 1899: 2:588-589), the painting probably returned to the sitter's brother's descendants after the death of her son. The painting is recorded as being at Gisburne Park in a publication of 1878 (Thomas Dunham Whitaker, The History and Antiquities of the Deanery of Craven in the County of York, edited by A.W. Morant, 3rd ed., Leeds and London, 1878: 53). "Lord Ribblesdale" lent the painting to two exhibitions, in 1883 and 1908.
[3] Agnew stock books, copies in NGA curatorial files provided by the Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles. See also David Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, 2 vols., New Haven and London, 2000: 1:308, no. 1134.
[4] Mannings 2000, 1:308, no. 1134. The author identified the painting as "untraced" and illustrated a copy, although the NGA had acquired the painting five years earlier.
[5] The Mellons lent the painting to an exhibition in 1925.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1817

  • Pictures by Deceased British Artists, British Institution, London, 1817, no. 4.

1883

  • Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A., Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1883-1884, no. 91.

1908

  • Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and Deceased Masters of the British School. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy, London, 1908, no. 151.

1925

  • An Exhibition of Paintings by Old Masters from Pittsburgh Collections, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1925, no. 66.

Bibliography

1884

  • Catalogue of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A., exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery, 1883-1884. London, 1884: 46, no. 91.

1899

  • Graves, Algernon, and William Vine Cronin. A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds. 4 vols. London, 1899: 2:588-589.

1900

  • Armstrong, Sir Walter. Sir Joshua Reynolds, First President of the Royal Academy. London and New York, 1900: 217.

1903

  • Baldry, Alfred Lys. Sir Joshua Reynolds. London and New York, 1903: xli.

1941

  • Waterhouse, Ellis K. Reynolds. London, 1941: 56, 93.

2000

  • Mannings, David. Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings. 2 vols. New Haven, 2000: 1:308, no. 1134, 2:364, fig. 813.

Wikidata ID

Q20178307

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