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Profile self-portrait in a cap

Maker

(artist)
1667-1745

Title

Date of Production

1665 - 1745

Medium

black and white chalk on blue laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 31.5 cm
Width: 26.1 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.2189

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

In the last twenty-five years of his life, Jonathan Richardson the elder, a successful portraitist, began drawing self-portraits such as this one as a means of self-examination. Never intended for public exhibition, they reveal an aging artist reflecting on himself with unsentimental directness. The austere profile pose he adopts here is associated with ancient Roman portrait medals and coins. Richardson’s costume of cap and robe however would have been worn at home or in the studio, reinforcing the informality of the image.

Provenance

Jonathan Richardson, the elder (1665-1745), L.2184; Lady Lucas; her sale, Sotheby's (London); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, n.d.; Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Drawings Gallery Display - Pen to Brush: British Drawings and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 18/11/2021-28/02/2022

Portrait of the Artist as ..., The Courtauld Gallery, London, 26/06/2012-22/07/2012

Some British Drawings from the Collection of Sir Robert Witt, Arts Council of Great Britain, 1948

Literature

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 40

Some British Drawings from the Collection of Sir Robert Witt, Arts Council of Great Britain, 1948
no. 62

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: Recto: lower centre, black chalk: 2 lines of shorthand (indecipherable). Verso: lower centre edge, dark brown ink: "Richardson". Mount (removed, see photo), Recto: lower left, graphite: "Exhib. Arts Council. 1948/9"; lower right, graphite: "Jonathan Richardson the Elder / 1665-1745 / Coll. Richardson Sen. / Lady Lucas.".

Collector's mark: Recto: lower right, stamped in black: Jonathan Richardson, the elder (L.2184). Verso: lower right corner, stamped in black:Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

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