John Hoppner, R.A.

Collection of the Earl of Carlisle (by repute);

Thomas Humphry Ward (1845-1926), London;

With Galerie Sedelmeyer, Paris, 1899;

From whom acquired by Edward R. Bacon, New York, by 1903;

With P. Jackson Higgs gallery, New York, 1927;

From whom acquired by the grandfather of the present collector;

Thence by descent.

New York, American Art Galleries, Loan Exhibition of Portraits for the Benefit of the Orthopaedic Dispensary and Hospital, 1903, no. 118 (Lady Burlington and Child, lent by E.R. Bacon, Esq.).

Illustrated Catalogue of the Fifth Series of 100 Paintings by Old Masters, exhibition catalogue, Paris 1899, p. 106, cat. no. 88, reproduced p. 107;

Loan Exhibition of Portraits for the Benefit of the Orthopaedic Dispensary and Hospital at the American Art Galleries, exhibition catalogue, New York 1903, n.p., cat. no. 118;

W. McKay and W. Roberts, John Hoppner, R.A., London 1909, p. 283;

J. B. Townsend and W. Stanton Howard, Memorial Catalogue of Paintings by Old and Modern Masters Collected by Edward R. Bacon, New York 1919, p. 19, cat. no. 20.

Passed down in the present owner's family for nearly a century, this endearing portrait of a nursing mother and child was described by McKay and Roberts in 1909 as a "somewhat unfinished" work by John Hoppner. Sometime in the early twentieth century (prior to 1927), sections were trimmed from the original canvas along the sides and lower edge (which extended to include the sitter's right hand), possibly to give the appearance of a more finished work.¹ Documented from a photograph from 1899, those areas of the composition appear to have been the least developed by Hoppner, offering some insight into the artist's working process. Remarkably, the trimmed sections of canvas were retained and are still affixed to the reverse of the present support. Once speculated to be Lady Burlington, the sitter remains unidentified at present.

We are grateful to Dr. John Wilson for confirming the attribution to John Hoppner on the basis of digital images.

¹ For a photograph of the unaltered composition, see: Illustrated Catalogue of the Fifth Series of 100 Paintings by Old Masters, exhibition catalogue, Paris 1899, p. 107.