Portrait of a Gentleman, c. 1810/1815

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 76.5 x 63.3 cm (30 1/8 x 24 15/16 in.)

framed: 97.8 x 85.1 x 6.7 cm (38 1/2 x 33 1/2 x 2 5/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Howard Sturges

Accession Number

1956.9.3

Artists / Makers

John Hoppner (painter) British, 1758 - 1810

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

(Bellas), France.[1] R.M. Smith, who sold it 1924 to (Thos. Agnew & Sons, London), as a portrait of John Fawcett by Romney; sold 1925 to Howard Sturges [d. 1955], Providence, Rhode Island, as by Hoppner;[2] bequest 1956 to NGA.

[1] A label from the French shipping company Chenue on the back of the stretcher is inscribed in ink: "Monsieur Bellas/pour Londres." Bellas was presumably a dealer, since the picture was exported as part of a consignment of at least two cases.

[2] Information from Thos. Agnew & Sons, 1985. An old label on the backof the frame bears the inplausible identification: "George Fawsett Esqe/G. Romney." "George" would seem to be an error for "John."

Associated Names

Agnew & Sons, Ltd., Thomas
Bellas
Smith, R.M.
Sturges, Howard

Exhibition History

1972: Extended loan for use by Caspar Weinberger, Director of the Budget and Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Washington, D.C., 1972-1975.

Technical Summary

The canvas is plain woven; it has been lined. The ground is white, thinly applied. There is a very thin imprimatura of a warm golden brown. The placement of the head and coat is loosely sketched in very fluid, thinned paint. The painting of the head, cravat, and collar is executed in thicker, opaque layers, blended wet into wet. The paint surface has been flattened during lining. Paint loss is minimal; there are scattered retouchings. A deep reddish brown glaze applied throughout to cover cracks, probably during an early restoration, was removed in large part from the head and cravat and thinned elsewhere when the painting was lined, restored, and revarnished in 1956; a deep blue-black glaze similarly applied to cover cracks in the collar has been abraded. The synthetic clear resin varnish has not discolored.

Bibliography

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 70, as Portrait of a Man.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 61, repro., as Portrait of a Man.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 180, repro., as Portrait of a Man.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 207, 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: 137-138, repro. 137.