The Brown Boy
| The Brown Boy | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Artist | Joshua Reynolds |
| Year | 1764 |
| Type | Oil on canvas, portrait painting |
| Dimensions | 231 cm × 147.5 cm (91 in × 58.1 in) |
| Location | |
The Brown Boy is a 1764 portrait painting by the British artist Joshua Reynolds. Also known as Portrait of Thomas Lister it depicts Thomas Lister a member of a prominent Yorkshire landowning family in a brown velvet suit around the age of twelve. His stance resembles an ancient statue of Mercury.[1] It evokes the style of van Dyck's early seventeenth century portraits.[2] In adulthood he became a politician and was made Lord Ribblesdale in 1797.
The popular title is an allusion to well-known works such as The Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough and The Red Boy by Thomas Lawrence. Reynolds was elected the first President of the Royal Academy a few years after producing the work and was very influential on the development of British art. The painting hung at the sitter's country estate Gisburne Park for more than a century. It featured at the Bicentenary Exhibition of the Royal Academy in 1968.[3] In 1976 the picture was accepted in lieu of tax by the British government and now forms part of the collection at Cartwright Hall in Bradford.[4]
References
- ↑ Cumming p.238
- ↑ Lindsay p.97
- ↑ Royal Academy of Arts Bicentenary Exhibition, 1768-1968. Royal Academy, 1968. p.51
- ↑ https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/thomas-lister-the-brown-boy-23372
Bibliography
- Cumming, Robert. Art. Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2008.
- Lindsay, Jack. Thomas Gainsborough: His Life and Art. Universe Books, 1981.
- Wendorf, Richard. Sir Joshua Reynolds: The Painter in Society. Harvard University Press, 1998.
