Jonathan Richardson the Elder drew this portrait in 1734, when his son, Jonathan Richardson the Younger, was forty. Both painters and writers, the Richardsons worked together harmoniously. Jonathan Richardson the Elder expressed great pride in his son’s classical education, which he contrasted with his own training in business. He movingly described their complementary relationship in his preface to Explanatory Notes and Remarks on Milton’s Paradise Lost, which they co-authored that same year: ‘My Son is my Learning, as I am That to Him which He has Not; We make One Man; and Such a Compound Man ... May Probably, produce what no Single Man Can.’

One of many chalk drawings the father made of his son, this informal portrait attests to the Richardsons’ unique bond. Jonathan Richardson the Elder used chalk almost exclusively for portraits of himself and his son, which he drew in their home in Bloomsbury. Applying three different coloured chalks to a striking blue paper, the artist brings Jonathan Richardson the Younger to life: his lips smile softly and his eyes shine as he raises his chin with calm confidence to gaze into the distance. Wearing the same turban which Jonathan Richardson the Elder depicted in his introspective self-portraits, the son looks, in his father’s words, like his ‘other self’.

This was formerly identified as a portrait of Lord Granville. From Susan Owens Report, 2012: A rare graphite sketch which seems to have been made in preparation for RW.2439 is in Cornell University Library (see Gibson-Wood 1994, pp. 218-220). This sketch possibly provides evidence that the chalk portraits were not necessarily ad vivum studies, as has been thought to be the case. According to Gibson-Wood (1994), the graphite sketch of Jonathan Jr (Cornell) ‘is on poor quality paper compared to that of the chalk drawing, and small adjustments in the latter that improve the sitter’s appearance indicate that it succeeded the smaller ad vivum study. In the chalk version, Richardson has smoothed out many of the contours, altered the cap to frame his son’s face in a more complimentary way, adjusted the collar to cover the flaccidity of the neck, and regularised the shape of his full lips. These “improvements” again illustrate very clearly Richardson’s judicious practice of idealization in portraiture, as described in his theoretical writings. Since relatively few of Richardson’s working sketches have survived, it is impossible to know whether this was the process he normally followed in producing his large chalk drawings, or whether many of them were in fact done directly from the life.’ (pp. 218-9.)

Jonathan Richardson, the elder (1665-1745), L.2184; presumably by descent to his son, Jonathan Richardson Junior (1694-1771); presumably his sale, Langford and Son (London), 5 - 12 February 1772; Reginald Pole; his sale, Sotheby's (London), 26 March 1930 (as a portrait of Lord Granville); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b; Witt Bequest 1952

Jonathan Richardson by himself, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 24/06/2015-20/09/2015

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

catalogue untraced, San Francisco, 1938

Jonathan Richardson by himself, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 2015
cat. no. 20

Gibson-Wood, Carol, 'Jonathan Richardson as a Draftsman' in 'Master Drawings', 1994 - 203-229; 32, no. 3
p. 218
fig. 17 on p. 221
see attached PDF

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

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: Recto: lower right, black chalk, dated: "4 Octr 1734". Verso: lower left, graphite: "141". Mount (removed, see photo), Recto: lower left, graphite: "Exhibited San Francisco. 1938"; lower right, graphite: "Jonathan Richardson I. / 1665-1745 / Portrait of Lord Granville / Dated October 4th 1734".

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).