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Provenance

(Wallis & Son, London), 1910; purchased by Sir Edgar Vincent, bt., later 1st viscount d'Abernon [1857-1941], Esher and Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey; sold c. 1917 to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[1] purchased 1919 by Mr. [d. 1933] and Mrs. Charles H. Sabin, Southampton, Long Island, New York; Mrs. Sabin [née Pauline Morton], who married Dwight F. Davis, Washington, D.C., in 1936; gift 1948 to NGA.

Exhibition History

1910
Pictures by Sir Henry Rareburn, R.A., French Gallery (Wallis & Son), London, 1910, no. 18.
1966
Loan for display with permanent collection, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, 1966-1968.
1969
Inaugural Exhibition: American Portraits, The Art Museum, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 1969-1970, no cat.
1972
Styles in Portraiture, Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association, Alexandria, Virginia, 1972, no cat.
1999
Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 85, repro.

Technical Summary

The heavy canvas is plain woven; it has been lined. The ground is white and contains white lead; it is possible that there are two layers, of which the white lead represents a priming over another, white chalk ground. The paint is applied in opaque layers, with thin, fluid washes, blended wet into wet in the darks, and with thick impasto in the lights; the final details are added crisply over dried lower layers. X-radiographs show that some minor changes were made in the frogging, notably at the sitter's right shoulder above the armpit, where the V-shaped braid was originally filled with decorative trim, and that the necktie was originally higher and more elaborate; also, and this is visible to the naked eye, that the sitter originally held his hat (then adorned with a large rosette) in his left hand against the rump of his charger. The object he then held in his right hand is difficult to identify. Craquelure in the uniform reveals that its color was originally blue. The thinner washes are slightly abraded and the impasto has been flattened by lining.

Bibliography

1911
Greig, James. Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A.: His Life and Works. London, 1911: 53.
1957
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 92.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 106.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 94, repro.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 278, repro.
1975
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: no. 528, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 323, repro.
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: 188-191, color repro. 191.

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