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Provenance

Probably painted for the sitter's father, David Reid, Edinburgh; by descent, through the sitter's daughter, Mrs. John Pryce, to Sir Henry Edward ap Rhys-Pryce [1874-1950];[1] (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 18 July 1924, no. 84); (M. Knoedler & Co., London); from whose New York branch it was purchased 1924 by Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.;[2] gift by 1937 to his daughter, Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York; bequest 1970 to NGA.

Exhibition History

1925
Pictures by Raeburn, M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, 1925, no. 9.

Technical Summary

The medium-weight canvas is tightly twill woven; it has been lined. The ground is off-white, thinly applied. The painting is executed in thin, smooth, opaque layers which, in the shadows of the costume, barely cover the ground. The paint surface is slightly abraded, and the weave of the canvas may have been emphasized during lining. Retouching is minimal. The natural resin varnish, slightly toned with brown and black pigment, has discolored yellow to a significant degree.

Bibliography

1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 278, repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 324, 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: 205-206, repro. 206.

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