Property from the collection of the late Timothy Clowes
Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A.
A compositional sketch for the portrait of Lady Louisa Manners, later Countess of Dysart (1745-1840)
Lot Closed
September 23, 03:35 PM GMT
Estimate
2,000 - 3,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from the collection of the late Timothy Clowes
Attributed to Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A.
Plympton, Devon 1723 - 1792 London
A compositional sketch for the portrait of Lady Louisa Manners, later Countess of Dysart (1745-1840)
Oil with pen and ink on card, varnished;
inscribed on the reverse of the mount: Sir J. Reynolds P.R.A. / orig. sketch for the portrait / of Lady Louisa Mildmay / From the Crewe Col
161 by 119 mm
Louisa Manners was the eldest daughter of the 3rd Earl of Dysart and in 1821 she became Countess of Dysart in her own right.
In 1779 she sat to Reynolds and the subsequent painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy. That work, which shows Lady Louisa in a pose taken from the antique, is now held at Kenwood House, London.
The present sketch relates to the finished oil painting and when it was sold in 1999 Dr David Mannings suggested that it may have been painted by Reynolds himself or by one of his studio assistants such as Giuseppe Marchi (1735-1808), in order to help the studio in 'laying in' full size compositions on the canvas.
Very few works of this type by Reynolds survive. There are however five sepia compositional sketches of portraits at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. 1
1. See: N. Penny et al., Reynolds, Exhibition Catalogue, London, Royal Academy, 1986, no. 155, i-v)
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