Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A.

Asher Wertheimer;
From whom acquired by Leverton Harris;
With Messrs Dowdeswell;
Private collection, England;
Anonymous sale ("The Property of a Gentleman") London, Sotheby's, 8 April 1998, lot 100;
There acquired by Bernadette and William M.B. Berger, Denver, Colorado.

Possibly London, Grafton Gallery, Exhibition of Dramatic & Musical Art, 1897, no. 149 (lent by Mrs. Hollins);¹
Denver, The Denver Art Museum, 600 Years of British Painting, The Berger Collection at The Denver Art Museum, 10 October 1998 - 28 March 1999.

A. Graves and W. V. Cronin, A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, PRA, London 1889, Vol. 4, p. 1250;
N. Penny, ed., Reynolds, exhibition catalogue, Paris and London 1985, p. 247;
600 Years of British Painting, The Berger Collection at The Denver Art Museum, Denver 1998, p. 133, reproduced p. 132;
D. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds, A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, New Haven and London 2000, Text vol. p. 56, cat. no. 30, Plates vol., p. 422, fig. no. 1036, reproduced.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work has been restored and is in good condition. The canvas has a glue lining which is nicely presenting the surface. This is a broadly painted work, and the dress and hands are very roughly applied. There is no visible weakness to the paint layer. Under ultraviolet light, one can see small dots of retouching here and there throughout the composition, but in no particular concentration. They may be slightly unnecessarily broadly applied, but the work looks well and could be hung as is.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

The actress Mrs. Abington, born Frances (“Fanny”) Barton in 1737, grew up in humble circumstances in London in the area around Drury Lane. As a young girl she sold flowers and sang in the streets of Covent Garden, earning the sobriquet of “Nosegay Fan.”  By seventeen, Fanny was well known in theatrical circles and, in 1755, made her first recorded stage appearance at the Haymarket Theatre.  By 1756, her reputation was such that she was invited by David Garrick to join the prestigious Drury Lane Company.  She married James Abington, her music master and one of the King’s trumpeters, in 1759 and was thereafter billed as “Mrs. Abington.”  She and her husband soon left London for Ireland to join Brown’s Dublin company where she had enormous success both professionally and socially.  With her rising fame and many male admirers, her marriage became strained and she eventually separated from her husband.  With new and powerful connections, she had become the mistress of the wealthy Irish MP, Mr. Needham. They returned to England together in 1765 and Needham died shortly after in Bath, leaving her well provided for in his will.  At Garrick’s invitation she rejoined the Drury Lane Company and went on to become one of the leading comic actresses of the era in such roles as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Millamant in Congreve’s The Way of the World, and Miss Walsingham in Hugh Kelly’s The School for Wives.  Her most celebrated role was that of Lady Teazle in Sheridan’s The School for Scandal (1777), a part that was written for her.  Among her admirers were Horace Walpole and the writer and lexicographer, Dr. Samuel Johnson.  Having attended one of her benefit performances in 1775, Johnson was seated so far away he could barely see or hear.  Afterwards, when asked by James Boswell, his biographer, why he had bothered to go he replied, “Because, Sir, Mrs Abington is a favourite of the public, and when the public cares a thousandth part for you that it does for her I will go to your benefit too.” Reynolds painted a number of celebrated images of Mrs. Abington including as the Comic Muse (Waddesdon Manor), and in her roles as Miss Prue (Yale Center for British Art) and Roxalana (private collection). The present portrait, depicting the actress wearing a white satin cardinal cloak, relates to the portrait, dateable to circa 1771-1773, formerly belonging to Charles, 3rd Lord Carrington and now in a private collection.²  Sir Ellis Waterhouse considered the present work to be a sketch for that picture, however Mannings (see Literature) thinks it may be another unfinished version.

1.  The Grafton Dramatic Exhibition is listed for this painting in Graves and Cronin (see Literature), however they do not list a Mrs. Hollins in their provenance for the portrait.
2.  See D. Mannings, under Literature, Text Vol., p. 56, cat. no. 31; Plates vol., fig. 1043.