Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-joshua-reynolds-444" aria-label="More by Sir Joshua Reynolds" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir Joshua Reynolds</a> and studio
Portrait a Lady
Presented by Miss M.H. Turner 1944
adults
chair
furnishings
individuals: female
objects
people
portraits
woman
<p>Turner apparently bought works by Reynolds or from his studio at the sale of the painter's niece, the Marchioness of Thomond, in 1821. One of these, possibly this unfinished sketch, was hung in his hall at Queen Anne Street although it was not listed in the 1854 inventory. The hall was described at the end of his life as being bare, with 'dingy brown' walls, but the inventory hints at a more considered arrangement, including Turner's four casts of Centaur and Lapith metopes from the Elgin Marbles, a pair of painted pedestals with marble tops and a plaster cast on the stairs.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
5 March 2001 – 15 July 2001
2001-07-15
5 March 2001 – 15 July 2001
2001-07-15
2001-03-05
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-03-05
House and Studio [TB CL2001]
Collection based display
24 June 2023 – 29 October 2023
2023-10-29
24 June 2023 – 29 October 2023
2023-10-29
2023-06-24
The Box (Plymouth, UK)
2023-06-24
Sir Joshua Reynolds
Loan-out
Portrait of a Lady
support: 763 × 635 × 17 mm
frame: 870 × 737 × 55 mm

Presented by Miss M.H. Turner 1944
<p>Turner apparently bought works by Reynolds  or from his studio at the sale of the painter's  niece, the Marchioness of Thomond, in 1821.  One of these, possibly this unfinished sketch,  was hung in his hall at Queen Anne Street although it was not listed in the 1854 inventory.  The hall was described at the end of his life  as being bare, with 'dingy brown' walls,  but the inventory hints at a more considered arrangement, including Turner's four casts  of Centaur and Lapith metopes from the  Elgin Marbles, a pair of painted pedestals with marble tops and a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/plaster-of-paris" title="Glossary definition for 'Plaster of Paris'"><span>plaster</span></a> <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/cast" title="Glossary definition for 'Cast'"><span>cast</span></a> on the stairs. </p>
Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p>[from]<b> Works No Longer Attributed to Turner</b></p>
<p><b>No. 548: </b>[<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/reynolds-portrait-of-a-lady-n05564" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05564</span></a>]<b> Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) or his Studio</b></p>
<p><b>548. Portrait of a Lady</b></p>
<p>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (5564)</p>
<p>Canvas, 29 3/4 × 24 1/2 (75·5 × 62), of which an irregular strip down the left-hand side approx. 6 3/4 (17) wide is a later addition</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> ?Sir Joshua Reynolds; ?his niece the Marchioness of Thomond, sold Christie's 26 May 1821 (in lot 10 with another; see below) bought ‘Turner, R.A.’; by descent to Miss M.H. Turner, by whom presented to the Tate Gallery 1944.</p>
<p>The original <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/canvas" title="Glossary definition for 'Canvas'"><span>canvas</span></a> has been cut irregularly down the left-hand side; the addition was presumably made to balance the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a>. At the same time, a large part of the chair was overpainted and the line of the lady's bosom strengthened; there are touchings-up to her eyes and elsewhere. It may well be that these extensive retouchings were in part designed to turn an unfinished sketch into a more finished picture.</p>
<p>The picture was accepted as a gift from Miss M.H. Turner, a collateral descendant of the artist, as the work of J.M.W. Turner, in the manner of, or a copy of, Reynolds. However, in 1974 the compiler, with the help of Miss Elizabeth Einberg, reattributed the picture to Reynolds or his school.</p>
<p>That it was in Turner's collection is nevertheless probable, as the artist's relations were allocated those works in his studio not by Turner himself. In addition, Turner is known to have bought three works by Reynolds at the sale of the latters's niece, the Marchioness of Thomond, one of which, in a single lot (10) with <i>Admiral Lord Keppel, a sketch</i> and described as ‘the late Duchess of Devonshire, the latter not strained’, may be this picture: the fact that it was described as not being on a stretcher fits with the present state of the canvas.</p>
<p>‘Admiral Keppell’ is listed in the Schedule of the Turner Bequest as no. 313, among the works not by Turner. In the same section, no. 354, ‘<a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>Portrait</span></a>—Sir J. Reynolds’, could be either this female portrait or the ‘Portrait of Sir Joshua, unfinished’, which was also bought by Turner at the Thomond sale, lot 11B. There is also an unattributed ‘Portrait of a Lady’, no. 335. (Two other lots, 13 and 27, were bought by ‘Turner’, but the absence of the qualifying ‘R.A.’ found by the name of the purchaser of lots 10 and 11B suggests that this was someone different.)</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, <i>The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner</i>, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-08T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults chair furnishings individuals: female objects people portraits woman