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>
Francis Beckford
Purchased 1947
adults
Beckford, Francis
clothing and personal items
coat
fine art and design, named works
individuals: male
man
named individuals
objects
people
portraits
quill pen
reading, writing, printed matter
Van Dyck, Anthony, painting, ‘Queen Henrietta Maria’
wig
<p>r</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2001</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
5 December 2008 – 17 October 2010
2010-10-17
5 December 2008 – 17 October 2010
2010-10-17
2008-12-05
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2008-12-05
Portraiture 1660-1800
Collection based display
2 December 2011 – 29 July 2012
2012-07-29
2 December 2011 – 29 July 2012
2012-07-29
2011-12-02
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2011-12-02
Atlantic Britain
Collection based display
Francis Beckford
support: 1283 × 1016 mm
frame: 1570 × 1300 × 85 mm
Purchased 1947
<br/>In 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> Francis Beckford (d. 1768) is dressed in a smart blue velvet coat, with matching cloth-covered buttons. His pose is derived from a half-length portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria (1609-69) (Royal Collection Trust, Windsor), painted in 1632 by Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641). The adaptation of a traditionally feminine attitude to a male portrait, although unusual, was a quite deliberate ploy, especially since in 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/pendant" title="Glossary definition for 'Pendant'"><span>pendant</span></a> portrait of Beckford's wife (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-suzanna-beckford-n05799" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05799</span></a>) Reynolds has adapted a pose from a male Van Dyck portrait. Whether either of the sitters was aware of this unusual role reversal is unknown.

<p>Reynolds began work on the present portrait at 10 a.m. on 10 December 1755, when Reynolds recorded the first sitting with Francis Beckford in his pocket book for that year. A second sitting took place on 15 December, again at 10 a.m. Further appointments are recorded at midday on 19 and 31 December. On the last page of the pocket book Reynolds scheduled a fifth appointment for midday, 5 January 1756. It is unknown whether further sittings were required, since the pocket book for 1756 is missing.  

</p><p>Francis Beckford's father had been Governor of Jamaica. With extensive investments in the island's sugar plantations and in the slave trade, he was reputed at the height of his career to have been the richest British subject. He also had a reputation for violence, murdering the Deputy Judge-Advocate of Jamaica. On his death his vast fortune was divided among his nine legitimate children, including Francis and his elder brother William 'Alderman' Beckford (1709-70), who became the father of the celebrated aesthete, William Beckford of Fonthill Abbey (1760-1844). On 8 March 1743 Francis Beckford married Lady Albinia Bertie, who died on 12 February 1754.<b> </b>Just over a year later, on 2 February he married Susannah Love (d.1803), daughter of Richard Love of Basing Park, Hampshire, an heiress whose fortune at her marriage was estimated at £20,000. Their son, Francis Love Beckford, succeeded to his maternal grandfather's seat at Basing Park.  He married Mrs Joanna Lloyd (b.1758), who was portrayed by Reynolds while married to her first husband, in 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/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1776 (Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire).

</p><p><br/><b>Further reading:<br/></b><b><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, p.82, vol.2, p.177, fig.153

</p><p>Martin Postle<br/>December 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>r</p>
Display caption
2001-02-28T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
adults Beckford, Francis clothing and personal items coat fine art and design, named works individuals: male man named individuals objects people portraits quill pen reading, writing, printed matter Van Dyck, Anthony, painting, ‘Queen Henrietta Maria’ wig