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Mrs. Richard Hoare Holding her Child
Sir Joshua Reynolds (English, 1723–1792)
about 1763
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
75.9 x 63.5 cm (29 7/8 x 25 in.)
Credit Line
Charles H. Bayley Picture and Painting Fund
Accession Number1982.138
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
The foremost portrait painter in London and an influential teacher and theorist, Reynolds was the first president of the Royal Academy in England. This unfinished picture may be an abandoned first version of a full-length portrait now in the Wallace Collection, London. It reveals Reynolds's methods of constructing a painting. Beginning with a sketchy outline drawn with the brush, Reynolds blocked in broad areas of color, emphasizing subtle tonal values by choosing closely-related grays and whites.
ProvenanceBy 1843, Francis Egerton (b. 1800 - d. 1857), 1st Earl of Ellesmere, Bridgewater House, London [see note 1]; until 1976, by descent through the Earls of Ellesmere, Bridgewater House [see note 2]; June 18, 1976, consigned by the Trustees of the Ellesmere Settlement, Christie's, London, lot 118, sold for £3800 to Colnaghi, London and New York. 1980, with Possessions of Prominence, Inc., New York (?) [see note 3]. January 21, 1982, anonymous sale, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, lot 28, to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 10, 1982)
[1] According to correspondence from John Ingamells, Director, The Wallace Collection to the MFA (December 21, 1983, citing a letter from E. G. Thompson of Bridgewater House dated February 2, 1933), in 1843, the painting was described in the Bridgewater House catalogue as a work by Lawrence, "Study of a Female Head (One of the Siddons Family)". It was listed as such by Anna Jameson in her 1844 Companion to the Most Celebrated Private Art Galleries of Art in London, no. 305, p. 161. Subsequently, according to E. G. Thompson, it was catalogued as a work by West, "Lady and Child Unfinished Sketch." When the painting was relined around 1900, a card was found between the canvas and the stretcher that said "Lord Francis Egerton / 26th prize. A lady and child. Original sketch by West."
[2] The painting was on loan to the Manchester City Art Gallery between 1961 and 1976.
[3] Ellen Stern, "Best Bets," New York Magazine, February 4, 1980, p. 54, published a profile on the business, noting that "a Joshua Reynolds oil sketch of Mrs. Hoare and her Child" was for sale at that time.
[1] According to correspondence from John Ingamells, Director, The Wallace Collection to the MFA (December 21, 1983, citing a letter from E. G. Thompson of Bridgewater House dated February 2, 1933), in 1843, the painting was described in the Bridgewater House catalogue as a work by Lawrence, "Study of a Female Head (One of the Siddons Family)". It was listed as such by Anna Jameson in her 1844 Companion to the Most Celebrated Private Art Galleries of Art in London, no. 305, p. 161. Subsequently, according to E. G. Thompson, it was catalogued as a work by West, "Lady and Child Unfinished Sketch." When the painting was relined around 1900, a card was found between the canvas and the stretcher that said "Lord Francis Egerton / 26th prize. A lady and child. Original sketch by West."
[2] The painting was on loan to the Manchester City Art Gallery between 1961 and 1976.
[3] Ellen Stern, "Best Bets," New York Magazine, February 4, 1980, p. 54, published a profile on the business, noting that "a Joshua Reynolds oil sketch of Mrs. Hoare and her Child" was for sale at that time.