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Thomas Gainsborough

Miss Catherine Tatton, 1786

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 76 x 64 cm (29 15/16 x 25 3/16 in.)

framed: 104.5 x 91.8 x 14 cm (41 1/8 x 36 1/8 x 5 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Andrew W. Mellon Collection

Accession Number

1937.1.99

Artists / Makers

Thomas Gainsborough (artist) British, 1727 - 1788

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

Painted May 1786 for the sitter's family;[1] by inheritance to the sitter's son, the Reverend William Drake-Brockman [1788-1847], Beachborough House, Newington, Hythe, Kent; by inheritance to his brother, the Reverend Tatton Drake-Brockman [1792-1869], Beachborough House; by inheritance to his brother, Frederick Drake-Brockman [1810-1876], Beachborough House; by inheritance to his nephew, Francis Drake-Brockman [1851-1931], Beachborough House; probably sold to (P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London); sold 1908 to (M. Knoedler and Co., New York, London, and Paris).[2] sold to Herbert, 1st baron Michelham [1851-1919], Hellingly, Sussex, by 1911;[3] (his estate sale, Hampton & Sons, London, on the premises, 20 Arlington Street, London, 23-24 November 1926, 2nd day, no. 290);[4] (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); sold 1927 to Andrew W. Mellon [1865-1937], Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA.

[1] The provenance published in the 1992 NGA systematic catalogue (John Hayes, British Painting of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries) states that the painting was executed in 1786 on the occasion of the sitter's marriage, for her father, the Reverend William Tatton, D.D., rector of Rotherfield, Sussex, and prebendary of Canterbury Cathedral, and that payment to the artist was recorded in the Rev. Tatton's account book of that year. This information is partially in error. While the date is correct, the account book that recorded the payment was not that of the Rev. Tatton, who died 11 February 1782, but that of his brother-in-law and executor, the sitter's uncle, the Rev. John Lynch, Archdeacon of Canterbury. The sitter was the only surviving child of the Rev. Lynch's sister, Sarah, and may have been his special responsibility. Catherine sat for her portrait in May 1786, when the Reverend recorded the payment of 1 shilling to the artist's servant, and the full fee of 34 pounds, 2 shillings and sixpence, was paid to the painter a few weeks later. Catherine was married on 7 June 1786, to James Drake-Brockman, and it is likely that she and her husband took possession of the painting. (See information about the account book in NGA curatorial files.)

[2] This part of the painting's provenance is somewhat uncertain. Ellis Waterhouse (Gainsborough, London, 1958: 91, no. 653) states that Knoedler acquired the painting from the Brockman family c. 1908. However, a typewritten document in NGA curatorial files describes the painting as "Bt. of P. & D. Colnaghi 1908" and "our 4438," underneath which is typed "11673." The document has no letterhead or identifying information, but the numbers bear a resemblance to Knoedler stock numbers, so it may be that the family sold the painting to Colnaghi, who in turn sold it to Knoedler. Colnaghi stock books begin only in 1911, so it is not possible to check this hypothesis against their records.

[3] Lord Michelman lent the painting to a 1911 exhibition in London.

[4] The sale of Baron Michelham's collection was held by direction of his widow, Aimée Geraldine, who had remarried in February of that year.

Associated Names

Colnaghi & Co., Ltd., P. & D.
Drake-Brockman, Francis
Drake-Brockman, Frederick
Drake-Brockman, Tatton, Rev.
Drake-Brockman, William
Drake-Brockman, William, Rev.
Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, The A.W.
Mellon, Andrew W.
Sale, London
Stern, 1st Baron Michelham, Herbert, Sir
Stern, 1st Baron Michelham, Herbert, Sir
Stern, Lady Michelham, Aimée Geraldine Bradshaw

Exhibition History

1911: Old Masters, Grafton Galleries, London, 1911, no. 37, pl. 27.

1931: Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Thomas Gainsborough, R.A., Cincinnati Art Museum, 1931, no. 46, pl. 44.

2002: Thomas Gainsborough, 1727-1788, Tate Britain, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2002-2003, no. 67, repro. (shown only in London and Washington).

Technical Summary

The canvas, which is plain woven, was enlarged at the top and on the left side by 2 cm during the execution of the picture; it has been lined. The white ground is of moderate thickness. The painting is executed in thin, fluid layers, blended wet into wet. X-radiographs show that the blue sash had a strong highlight in the area now occupied by the third finger of the sitter's right hand, and blue paint can be seen through the traction crackle in the paint of the hand; it is evident, therefore, that the hand clasping the sash was added after the sash had been completely modeled. The thinnest areas have been abraded and the texture of the canvas has been strongly impressed into the paint surface during lining; there are fine retouchings, chiefly in the hair, but there are no major losses. The pigmented natural resin varnish has discolored yellow slightly.

Bibliography

1912: Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection of Old Masters of the English School in the Posession of the Rt. Hon. Lord Michelham, .... London, 1912: 2, repro.

1941: Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: no. 283, repro.

1941: Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 71-72, no. 99.

1942: Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 241, repro. 13.

1949: Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 112, repro.

1958: Waterhouse, Sir Ellis. Gainsborough. London, 1958: no. 653.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 54.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 46, repro.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 142, repro.

1975: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: no. 497, color repro.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 357, no. 495, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 164, repro.

1991: Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 68, 69, color 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: 106-108, repro. 107.

2016: Rather, Susan. The American School: Artists and Status in the Late Colonial and Early National Era. New Haven, 2016: 180-181, color fig. 135.