Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A.

'The Studious Boy'

VAT reduced rate

Lot Closed

July 8, 02:32 PM GMT

Estimate

20,000 - 30,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Property from a Private Collection, South Africa

Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A.

Plympton, Devon 1723 - 1792 London

'The Studious Boy'

oil on canvas

unframed: 76.5 x 63.9 cm.; 30⅛ x 25¼ in.

framed: 97 x 84.4 cm.; 38¼ x 33¼ in.

Chosen by Philip Metcalfe 91733-1818) from the artist's collection (according to the terms of Reynolds' will);
By inheritance to his nephew Henry Metcalfe (1790-1849);
His posthumous sale, London, Christie's, 15 June 1850, lot 18, to Lenox for £170.2s;
With Lenox Gallery, New York;
New York Public Library, New York;
By whom sold, New York, Sotheby's, 17 October 1956, lot 37, to Taishott;
Jerome Taishott;
Private collection, South Africa, by 1995.

M. Postle, Sir Joshua Reynolds: The Subject Pictures, Cambridge 1995, pp. 100 and 112;
D. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds, A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, New Haven and London 2000, text vol. pp. 511-12, cat. no. 2022, reproduced plates vol., fig. 1584.

This type of portrait is an example of one of Reynolds’ 'fancy pictures', a genre he became increasingly preoccupied with towards the end of his career. The composition is a free reworking of Reynolds' Boy Reading of 1747.¹ Here the boy, who wears a crimson jacket and leans on a green cushion, is placed in an oval and holds a pen in his hand.

Philip Metcalfe, the original owner of the painting, was a friend of Reynolds and accompanied him in 1781 on a two-month tour through Belgium, Holland and Germany. Metcalfe was the executor of Reynolds' will, under which he selected the present painting.

¹Mannings 2000, pp. 512-13, cat. no. 2025.