The Singing Party, c. 1732/1760

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 73.1 x 92.1 cm (28 3/4 x 36 1/4 in.)

framed: 92.7 x 112.1 x 6.9 cm (36 1/2 x 44 1/8 x 2 11/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Duncan Phillips

Accession Number

1952.4.2

Artists / Makers

Philip Mercier (painter) French, born Germany, 1689 - 1760

Image Use

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Provenance

Painted for George, 1st Baron Vernon [1709/1710-1780], Sudbury Hall, Derbyshire; by descent to Francis, 9th Baron Vernon [1889-1963]. (Arnold Seligmann, Rey & Co., Inc., New York); purchased 1940 by Duncan Phillips, Washington, D.C.; gift 1952 to NGA.[1]

[1] The gift by Duncan Phillips was made "on behalf of the Phillips Gallery" (now The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.).

Associated Names

Phillips, Duncan
Seligmann, Rey & Co., Arnold
The Phillips Collection
Vernon, Augustus Henry, 6th Baron
Vernon, Francis Lawrance William, 9th Baron
Vernon, George Charles, 4th Baron
Vernon, George Francis Augustus, 8th Baron
Vernon, George John, 5th baron Vernon
Vernon, George Venables, 1st Baron
Vernon, George William Henry, 7th Baron
Vernon, George, 2nd Baron
Vernon, Henry, 3rd Baron

Exhibition History

1972: Extended loan for use by The Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1972.

1984: English Caricature 1620 to the Present, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1984, no. 35, pl. 13.

Technical Summary

The medium-weight canvas is plain woven; it has been lined. The ground is white gesso, thinly applied. The painting is executed in fairly thick opaque paint for the heads, with low impasto in most of the foreheads, and in thin, translucent washes throughout the rest of the painting, with a palette of earth tones. There are numerous small losses along the top and bottom edges, and scattered but minimal retouching elsewhere. Otherwise the painting is in good condition. The moderately thick natural resin varnish has discolored yellow to a moderate degree.

Bibliography

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 68, as by William Hogarth.

1967: Baldini, Gabriele and Gabriele Mandel. L'opera completa di Hogarth pittore. Milan, 1967: no. 199, repro.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 60, repro., as by William Hogarth.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 46, repro., as British School

1984: English Caricature 1620 to the Present. Exh. cat. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1984: no. 35, pl. 13.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 21, 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: 169-171, repro. 170.