Oil paint on canvas
Tate Britain
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
General Collection
Robert Vernon
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>
Age Innocence
Presented by Robert Vernon 1847
actions: postures and motions
birth to death
childhood
children
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
girl
hands clasped
innocence
landscape
people
sitting
society
wooded
<p>The identity of Joshua Reynolds’s young model is uncertain. It is perhaps Reynold’s great-niece Theophila Gwatkin, a Miss Anne Fletcher, or a Lady Anne Spencer (the youngest daughter of the 4th Duke of Marlborough). This painting is an example of a ‘fancy’ picture, a type of 18th century painting showing figures, particularly children, playing out various roles. It was painted over one of Reynolds’s existing paintings, titled <span>A Strawberry Girl.</span> He altered all elements of the girl’s figure except for her hands.<span> The Age of Innocence</span> was one of Reynolds’s most popular images – more than 323 full-scale copies were made of it between 1856 and 1893.</p><p><em>Gallery label, October 2023</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
19 May 2012 – 2 December 2012
2012-12-02
19 May 2012 – 2 December 2012
2012-12-02
2012-05-19
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-05-19
Victorian Sentimentality
Collection based display
5 October 2013 – 27 March 2014
2014-03-27
5 October 2013 – 30 March 2014
2014-03-30
2013-10-05
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2013-10-05
The Age of Innocence
Collection based display
12 March 2015 – 7 June 2015
2015-06-07
12 March 2015 – 7 June 2015
2015-06-07
2015-03-12
The Wallace Collection (London, UK)
http://www.wallace-collection.org.uk
2015-03-12
Sir Joshua Reynolds. Experiments in Paint.
Loan-out
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
26 September 2022
26 September 2022
2022-09-26
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2022-09-26
Gallery 15
Collection based display
The Age of Innocence
support: 765 × 638 mm
frame: 907 × 787 × 80 mm
Presented by <a href="/search?gid=999999978" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Robert Vernon</a> 1847
<p>This picture, presented to the National Gallery in 1847, and subsequently transferred to Tate in 1951, has for many years been among Reynolds's best known works. In the nineteenth century it was deeply admired and frequently copied, National Gallery records revealing that between its acquisition and the end of the century no fewer than 323 full-scale copies in oil were made. 

</p><p>The picture was not a commissioned <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> but a character study,  or '<a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/f/fancy-picture" title="Glossary definition for 'Fancy Picture'"><span>fancy picture</span></a>', as 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/g/genres" title="Glossary definition for 'Genres'"><span>genre</span></a> was known in the eighteenth century. The present title was not invented by Reynolds, but derives from 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 1794, the second impression of which was inscribed 'The Age of Innocence'. Traditionally, it is has been thought that the picture was painted in 1788. However, it is very probably identifiable with a work exhibited by Reynolds at the Royal Academy in 1785, and entitled simply '<i>a little girl</i>'. On 8 April 1785 <i>The Morning Herald</i>, previewing Reynolds's proposed exhibits for the forthcoming Royal Academy exhibition, noted: 'An Infant Girl, disposed on a grass plat in an easy attitude. The companion to it is a girl fondling a bird. These subjects are fancy studies of Sir Joshua's and do him honour'.  

</p><p>A recent examination of the <i>Age of Innocence</i> by the conservation department at Tate has revealed that it was painted over another celebrated fancy picture by Reynolds titled <i>A Strawberry Girl</i>, of which several versions are known, including one in London's Wallace collection. X-radiographs of the present picture indicate that only the hands of the original <i>Strawberry Girl</i> remained unaltered by Reynolds. As Tate conservator Rica Jones has noted, it is possible that the <i>Strawberry Girl</i> was completed by Reynolds and then altered as a result of large paint losses, now made visible by x-ray (Rica Jones in Hackney et al. 1999, pp.60-5). This is not especially surprising since there are several contemporary accounts of pictures by Reynolds (including an unidentified study of a young girl) from which whole areas of paint became detached owing to the artist's defective technique. The picture was relined (backed with a new <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>) sometime in the early nineteenth century and conservation records at Tate, dating back to 1859, indicate that 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/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> has continued to suffer from extensive cracking and flaking. <br/><br/>The identity of Reynolds's model is uncertain. According to Sir Robert Edgcumbe, a Victorian descendant of Reynolds, she was the artist's great-niece Theophila Gwatkin (1782-1844), who would have been three years old in 1785. Alternatively, it has been suggested that she was a Miss Anne Fletcher, although since she was married around 1791 this identification is clearly incorrect. Finally, it has been asserted that she was Lady Anne Spencer (1773-1865), who was the youngest daughter of the 4<sup>th</sup><sup></sup><sup></sup> Duke of Marlborough, and who had featured in Reynolds's group portrait of <i>The</i> <i>Marlborough Family</i> (Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire).  Interestingly, there is a facial similarity between the girl in the present picture and Lady Anne Spencer. However, if she was Reynolds's model, the picture must have been painted in the later 1770s, rather than the mid-1780s as seems likely.

</p><p><b><br/></b><b>Further reading:<br/></b>Rica Jones, 'The Age of Innocence', in S. Hackney, R. Jones, J. Townsend, <i>Paint and Purpose: A Study of Technique in British Art</i>, Tate, 1999, pp.60-5<br/>David Mannings and Martin Postle, <i>Sir Joshua Reynolds. A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings</i>, New Haven and London 2000, vol.1, pp.507-8, no. 2008, vol.2, p.583, fig.1575<b> <br/></b><b><br/></b>Martin Postle<br/>November 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div class="text">
<p>The identity of Joshua Reynolds’s young model is uncertain. It is perhaps Reynold’s great-niece Theophila Gwatkin, a Miss Anne Fletcher, or a Lady Anne Spencer (the youngest daughter of the 4th Duke of Marlborough). This painting is an example of a ‘fancy’ picture, a type of 18th century painting showing figures, particularly children, playing out various roles. It was painted over one of Reynolds’s existing paintings, titled <i>A Strawberry Girl.</i> He altered all elements of the girl’s figure except for her hands.<i> The Age of Innocence</i> was one of Reynolds’s most popular images – more than 323 full-scale copies were made of it between 1856 and 1893. </p>
</div>

Display caption
2023-10-26T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
actions: postures and motions birth to death childhood children emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas girl hands clasped innocence landscape people sitting society wooded