Ink on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
Unknown artist, Britain
a Mans Head
Presented by the Rev. John Gibson 1892
actions: postures and motions
adults
body
clothing and personal items
head / face
looking down
man
objects
people
wig
paper unique ink
Study of a Man’s Head
support: 82 × 71 mm
Presented by the Rev. John Gibson 1892
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/unknown-artist-britain-study-of-a-mans-head-n02221" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02221</span></a> <b>Study of a Man's Head</b> ? <i>c.</i> 1765
<br/>
<br/>Pen and iron-gall ink on cream hand-made laid paper 82×71 (3 3/16×2 3/4), laid down on similar paper, within ruled ink borders Presented by the Revd John Gibson to the National Gallery 1892; transferred to the Tate Gallery 1919</p>
<p>PROVENANCE ...; Revd John Gibson by 1892
<br/>LITERATURE Michael Ayrton and Bernard Denvir, <i>Hegarth's Drawings</i>, 1948, p.78, pl.31 (as Hogarth ‘<i>c.</i> 1740’)
<br/>
<br/>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/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawing</span></a> entered the National Gallery's collection with <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/unknown-artist-britain-study-of-a-human-skull-n02220" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02220</span></a>, each with an attribution to Hogarth which cannot be supported. In the case of <span>N02221</span>, the attribution evidently derived from an inscription of <i>c.</i> 1800 on 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/recto-verso" title="Glossary definition for 'Recto / Verso'"><span>verso</span></a> 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/p/paper" title="Glossary definition for 'Paper'"><span>paper</span></a> on which the drawing is laid, which reads ‘The person who gave this Drawing assures me that it was bought of Mrs Hogarth - that it was her Husbands <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> and done by himself. It seems to be in the bold style of his <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>Engravings</span></a>.’
<br/></p>
<p>N02220and <span>N02221</span> appear to be by different unknown hands. In <span>N02221</span> the penwork has some similarity with that of John Hamilton Mortimer; this drawing may be by one of his colleagues at the St Martin's Lane <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/academy" title="Glossary definition for 'Academy'"><span>Academy</span></a>.</p>
<p>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Elizabeth Einberg and Judy Egerton, <i>The Age of Hogarth: British Painters Born 1675-1709</i>, Tate Gallery Collections, II, London 1988
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults body clothing and personal items head / face looking down man objects people wig