Oil paint on canvas
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<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>
Mr Huddesford and Mr Bampfylde
Presented by Mrs Plenge in accordance with the wishes of her mother, Mrs Martha Beaumont 1866
adults
arts and entertainment
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Bampfylde, John
fine arts and music
friendship
Huddesford, George
individuals: male
letter
literary
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portraits
print
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Warton, Joseph
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<p>This portrait is a poignant record of the brief friendship shared by two young men, George Huddesford and John Bampfylde. In the picture Huddesford hands his companion an engraving of their old school teacher, Joseph Warton, master of Winchester College, and himself a friend of Reynolds. Huddesford was then a budding satirist, who had taken lessons in painting from Reynolds. Bampfylde, a gifted musician and poet, fell madly in love with Reynolds's niece during the time this picture was being painted. She rejected his advances. Shortly afterwards Bampfylde succumbed to mental illness, spending the remainder of his life in a private asylum in Sloane Street, Chelsea.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
12 February 2005 – 25 September 2005
2005-09-25
12 February 2005 – 1 May 2005
2005-05-01
2005-02-12
Palazzo dei Diamanti (Ferrara, Italy)
26 May 2005 – 25 September 2005
2005-09-25
2005-05-26
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2005-02-12
Joshua Reynolds
Exhibition
18 February 2009 – 17 May 2009
2009-05-17
18 February 2009 – 17 May 2009
2009-05-17
2009-02-18
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-02-18
Van Dyck and Britain
Exhibition
26 November 2018 – 14 July 2019
2019-07-14
26 November 2018 – 14 July 2019
2019-07-14
2018-11-26
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2018-11-26
Joshua Reynolds
Collection based display
11 September 2019 – 31 May 2020
2020-05-31
11 September 2019 – 16 February 2020
2020-02-16
2019-09-11
Musée du Luxembourg (Paris, France)
29 February 2020 – 31 May 2020
2020-05-31
2020-02-29
External
2019-09-11
Gainsborough to Turner: The Golden Age of English Painting
Loan-out
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
Mr Huddesford and Mr Bampfylde
support: 1251 × 997 mm
frame: 1537 × 1302 × 115 mm
Presented by Mrs Plenge in accordance with the wishes of her mother, Mrs Martha Beaumont 1866
<p>This double <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> is a poignant record of the friendship between two young men, George Huddesford (1749-1809), left, and John Bampfylde (1754-97). Huddesford, who is dressed in a black silk van Dyck costume, looks towards the viewer while proffering his companion an <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/engraving" title="Glossary definition for 'Engraving'"><span>engraving</span></a>, presumably selected from the bundle beneath his hand. Bampfylde examines 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/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>print</span></a>, which he takes in his left hand, while holding the neck of his violin in his right. The print in question, which is also based upon a portrait by Reynolds, depicts Joseph Warton (1722-1800), a close friend of the artist, and Master of Winchester College, where both Huddesford and Bampfylde had been pupils. The inclusion of Warton's image lends a suitably scholastic air to a portrait that seeks to emphasise the friends' common interest in the pursuit of learning and the fine arts. Reynolds's <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> is a deliberate evocation of 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/r/renaissance" title="Glossary definition for 'Renaissance'"><span>Renaissance</span></a> friendship portrait, celebrating the fraternal bond between two young men. However, shortly after the portrait was completed their relationship was disrupted by Bampfylde's encroaching insanity. It is not known exactly when this portrait was painted, although George Huddesford paid Reynolds one hundred guineas in October 1778, by which time the picture was probably complete.  

</p><p>In 1768, after leaving Winchester, George Huddesford enrolled at Trinity College, Oxford, where his father was President. In 1771 he was granted a fellowship at New College, although he gave it up the following year, having 'married his girl friend hastily in London, carried away by youthful passion' (Lonsdale, p.20). Shortly afterwards he studied <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/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> under Reynolds. However, it was his satirical poem <i>Warley</i>, published in two parts between October and December 1778, that first gained him notoriety as a wit, and which must have been written at the very time the present portrait was being painted. He subsequently trained as a clergyman. He died in London on 7 October 1809, aged fifty-nine. 

</p><p>John Codrington Warwick Bampfylde was born on 24 August 1754, the younger son of Sir Richard Warwick Bampfylde (1722-76), 4<sup>th</sup><sup></sup><sup></sup> Baronet, of Poltimore, Devon<b>.</b> His elder brother, Charles Bampfylde (1753-1823), who succeeded to the baronetcy upon his father's death, married Catherine Moore (<i>c</i>.1754-1832), who in 1776 sat to Reynolds for her portrait as Lady Bampfylde (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/reynolds-lady-bampfylde-n03343" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03343</span></a>). John Bampfylde was a gifted poet and musician, his ability to improvise at the keyboard being regarded as 'most original and most extraordinary' by the composer and music teacher, William Jackson (1730-1803). According to Jackson, Bampfylde expressed a romantic wish to live in solitude in the country, dedicating his life to his music and poetry. However, under pressure from his family Bampfylde moved to London, where he fell desperately in love with Reynolds's niece, Mary Palmer (1750-1820). In 1778 Bampfylde dedicated a volume of sonnets to her and, in 1779, a poem entitled 'To Miss Palmer's Pet Monkey', whose privileged position he contrasted to his own wretched state. Sadly, Miss Palmer rejected his advances, and he lapsed into insanity. Bampfylde spent the remainder of his life in a 'private madhouse' in Sloane Street, recovering his mind briefly, just before his death in December 1797. 

</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b>David Mannings and Martin Postle, <i>Sir Joshua Reynolds. A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings</i>, 2 vols., New Haven and London 2000, vol.1, pp.71-72, vol.2, p.486, fig.1254<br/>Roger Lonsdale (ed.), <i>The Poems of John Bampfylde</i>, Oxford 1988, pp.20-30

</p><p>Martin Postle<br/>December 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>This <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> is a poignant record of the  brief friendship shared by two young men,  George Huddesford and John Bampfylde.  In the picture Huddesford hands his companion  an <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/engraving" title="Glossary definition for 'Engraving'"><span>engraving</span></a> of their old school teacher,  Joseph Warton, master of Winchester College,  and himself a friend of Reynolds. Huddesford  was then a budding satirist, who had taken lessons in <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/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> from Reynolds. Bampfylde,  a gifted musician and poet, fell madly in love  with Reynolds's niece during the time this picture was being painted. She rejected his advances. Shortly afterwards Bampfylde succumbed to mental illness, spending the remainder of his  life in a private asylum in Sloane Street, Chelsea. 
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Display caption
2004-08-31T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
adults arts and entertainment author Bampfylde, John fine arts and music friendship Huddesford, George individuals: male letter literary man musician named individuals objects people poet portraits print reading, writing, printed matter sex and relationships society Warton, Joseph work and occupations