Portrait of a Lady
Joseph Highmore·c. 1730/1735
Historical Context
Joseph Highmore's Portrait of a Lady, painted around 1730-1735, is an elegant example of English portraiture during the period between Kneller and Reynolds. Highmore was among the most cultivated English painters of his generation — a friend of Samuel Richardson and the author of several theoretical writings on art. His female portraits combine the formal elegance of the English portrait tradition with a warmth and naturalism that anticipate the achievements of Reynolds and Gainsborough.
Technical Analysis
Highmore's oil-on-canvas technique creates an appealing portrait with warm flesh tones and careful attention to costume and setting. The smooth handling and luminous palette demonstrate his command of the English portrait tradition, with particular skill in rendering fashionable dress.
Provenance
(Rose M. [Mrs. Augustus] de Forest, New York); sold 12 October 1926 to Thomas B. Clarke [1848- 1931], New York, as a portrait of Williamina Moore by Robert Feke;[1] sold 29 January 1936 by Clarke's executors through (M. Knoedler & Co., New York), as part of the Clarke collection, to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift to NGA, 1942. [1] According to 1928 Clarke exhibition catalogue annotated with information from files of M. Knoedler & Co., NY (copy in NGA curatorial records and in NGA library).The provenance from Colonel John Moore of New York, uncle of the supposed sitter, supplied by the dealer, de Forest, has been shown by archival research to be spurious: James Lane and Anna Rutledge, report on the Clarke collection, 1952, quoted by William P. Campbell, memorandum, 3 May 1966, in NGA curatorial files. Campbell sums up the provenance as "completely untenable."
