STUDIO OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS - PORTRAIT OF RICHARD BURKE (1758-1794)

Studio of Sir Joshua Reynolds (Plympton 1723-1792 London) Portrait of Richard Burke (1758-1794)

The sitter is depicted half-length, wearing a red overcoat over a white chemise and frilled lace cravat. This version lrelates to two portraits of the sitter by Reynolds and is most likely derived from the later one, now in the Collection of Earl Spencer, Althorp, which was probably painted shortly after 1782, when Richard became a member of the The Club.

Richard Burke (1758-1794)                                                             The only son of Edmund Burke and Jane Mary Nugent, Richard Burke (9 February 1758 – 2 August 1794) was a barrister and Member of Parliament. After being educated at Christ Church, Oxford, he was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1780. In 1794, Richard was elected Member of Parliament for Malton, North Yorkshire, in succession to his father who resigned his seat in the same year, but fell ill soon afterwards, and died at the early age of thirty-six.

Sir Joshua Reynolds P.R.A (1723 -1792) Reynolds was the leading English portraitist of the 18th century. Through study of ancient and Italian Renaissance art, and of the work of Rembrandt, Rubens and Van Dyck, he brought great variety and dignity to British portraiture.

Reynolds was born at Plympton in Devon, the son of a headmaster and fellow of Balliol College, Oxford: a more educated background than that of most painters. He was apprenticed in 1740 to the fashionable London portraitist Thomas Hudson, who also trained Wright of Derby He spent 1749-52 abroad, mainly in Italy, and set up practice in London shortly after his return.

He soon established himself as the leading portrait painter, though he was never popular with George III. He was a key figure in the intellectual life of London, and a friend of Dr Johnson. When the  Royal Academy was founded in 1768, Reynolds was elected its first President. Although believing that history painting   was the noblest work of the painter, he had little opportunity to practise it, and his greatest works are his portraits.

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Canvas: 75.3cm x 63.7cm / 29 5/8in x 25 1/16in Framed: 93cm x 80cm / 36.5in x 32in.

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