British Paintings

On View: West Building, Main Floor

42 artworks on view.

This painting shows three men and one dog in an outdoor setting. To the left of center is a seated man looking out at us, wearing a blue coat and pants with gold trim, a red vest, white stockings, and black shoes, his curled gray hair under a black tricorn hat. Leaning against a tree behind the seated man is another man who wears a gray coat and vest with tan pants and tall, knee-length black boots. He holds a long, thin stick in one hand and a black tricorn hat in the other. This man has gray-brown hair that is also curled. He looks to the right, where the third man stands. The man on the right wears a blue-and-gray coat with gold trim, a gray vest, white stockings, and black shoes, with curled gray hair. He holds a black tricorn hat in one hand and uses the other hand to point towards the seated man. All three men have pale skin. A brown-and-white dog stands next to the seated man, its head resting on the man's thigh. The background consists of a green landscape with tall trees, distant gray buildings, and ships on the blue water in the distance. The sky above is light blue with a few wispy white clouds.

Arthur Holdsworth Conversing with Thomas Taylor and Captain Stancombe by the River Dart

Arthur Devis

1757

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1983.1.40

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M61

Three young boys, four girls, and a dark brown dog gather in a loose semi-circle in a grassy clearing near a grove of trees in this horizontal landscape painting. The children all have pale skin with flushed cheeks, brown hair, and dark eyes. The girls wear corseted dresses with long skirts and cap-like bonnets, and the boys wear jackets with tails, knee-length pants, stockings, and black shoes with buckles. The three boys look at us while the four girls look around the scene. A long plank of wood has been laid across a thick, sawed tree trunk to make a seesaw. One boy, wearing fawn brown, sits on one end near the ground, to our left. The oldest girl braces the youngest on the opposite end of the plank, which is lifted into the air. The oldest girl wears a sheer, white apron over a coral-pink dress. Like the other two girls, the youngest child wears a white dress but hers has a pink sash and pink ribbons are tied into her and the oldest girl’s white caps. A boy wearing a moss-green suit looks at us and raises his dark cap in one hand as he stands balanced with his feet widely planted at the center of the angled plank of wood. To our right and closer to us, one of the younger girls, wearing a topaz-blue sash with a blue ribbon in her cap, stands in front of the oldest boy, who holds a tall staff that reaches off the top edge of the painting in the crook of one elbow. This boy holds a small silver fish in both hands. The girl touches one of his hands with her own, and looks up at the fish. The fourth girl and the dog sit on the ground at the front center of the painting. The dog rests its front legs across her lap and she looks off to our right. A pool of water reflects light in the lower right corner of the painting, and a deeply shadowed, verdant forest frames the rightmost third of the composition. Upon closer inspection, we find an open basket and red cloth near the water, almost lost in shadow near the lower right corner of the painting. Beyond the group of children, a tree-filled valley leads back to another body of water and hills in the deep distance to our left, and a few pale gray clouds float across a blue sky.

The Lavie Children

Johann Zoffany

c. 1770

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1983.1.48

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M61

This painting shows a man holding a pheasant by its legs in his raised left hand, his right arm supporting a long rifle. The man is turned to the right, and he is wearing a tall grey top hat, a long, gray-brown coat, dark pants, and boots. He has fair skin, pink cheeks, and a slight smile on his pink lips. Gray hair is partially visible beneath his hat. A red horse is to his left with its head lowered, and two brown-and-white dogs are at his feet. The background is a sky with swirling clouds in shades of brown and gray, with distant blue hills visible beyond the brown landscape.

J.G. Shaddick, the Celebrated Sportsman

Benjamin Marshall

1806

Oil on canvas Accession ID 1999.79.24

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M59

Lady Elizabeth Vernon, née Bingham

Bertel Thorvaldsen

model 1816 and/or 1817/1818, carved c. 1821

Carrara marble Accession ID 2011.101.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M58

Possibly Lady Georgiana Bingham

Bertel Thorvaldsen

model 1816 and/or 1817/1818, carved c. 1821/1824

Carrara marble Accession ID 2011.101.3

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M58

The sculpture is a bust of a person with an elaborate hairstyle. The individual has finely carved, wavy hair gathered neatly at the back. The sculpture is made from white marble. The face of the sculpture displays delicate features, with a straight gaze and a subtle expression. The neck is elongated, and the bust is placed on a simple, rounded pedestal that supports the upper portion of the sculpture.

Possibly Lady Louisa Bingham

Bertel Thorvaldsen

model 1816 and/or 1817/1818, carved c. 1821/1824

Carrara marble Accession ID 2011.101.2

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M58