Middle Room.—East Side.
Mannings # 2100
Current title: "Lear"
Location: Private Collection
Reynolds depicts a windblown King Lear in a crimson robe trimmed with ermine, presumably a reference to the storm scene on the heath.
Reynolds' sympathetic portrait of Lear may have been inspired by Samuel Johnson's 1765 edition of Shakespeare's works, for which Reynolds wrote several notes. Johnson, whose own picture hangs at No. 130, gives a verbal portrait of Lear in his 1765 Preface that nicely glosses the humanity of Reynolds' image: "Lear would move our compassion but little, did we not rather consider the injured father than the degraded king." Johnson was responding to discussions of whether Shakespeare's Lear, at the moment that he succumbs to madness, suffers more from the loss of his kingdom or from the cruelty of his daughters. Johnson thought parental disappointment paramount.
Chronologically, the first pictures in both the North and Middle rooms are of mad kings. Any implied analogy would have been a bold move on the part of the 1813 curators, since all performances of King Lear were banned from the stage between 1810 and 1820 precisely to avoid the royal comparison to George III (No. 1), who suffered from bouts of madness.
Other paintings in the 1813 retrospective with Shakespearean subjects are "Death of Cardinal Beauford" (No. 11) and "Puck" (No. 54). Those pictures were originally displayed in Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery, the prior occupant of the exhibit space in Pall Mall occupied by the British Institution.
Further Reading:
Paula Byrne, Jane Austen and the Theatre (Hambledon and London, 2002).
Penny Gay, Jane Austen and the Theatre (Cambridge UP, 2002).
Middle Room.—East Side.
Mannings # 818
Current title: "Captain John Hamilton (d. 1755)"
Location: Abercorn Heirlooms Trust
John Hamilton, the son of James, seventh Earl of Abercorn, and Anne Plumer, was a well-known sailor. In 1749 he married Harriot Craggs, widow of Richard Eliot, of Port Eliot. They had two children, Anne and John James, who became ninth Earl and first Marquess of Abercorn. They also raised Harriot's children from her first marriage, including Edward Eliot, first Baron Eliot, who became a politician.
In 1755, John Hamilton was appointed Captain of the Lancaster which later that year tragically struck on what became known as Hamilton shoal, causing Captain Hamilton and the majority of his crew to drown.
As testimony to his early travels and, possibly, to his famed good humor, Hamilton is dressed in the costume of a Hungarian hussar, complete with mustache, fur busby, small dagger, and a dramatic fur coat that might be bear, fox, or even wolf.
Mannings mentions a shipwreck in the background that could allude to the wreck of the Louisa on which Hamilton had accompanied George II from Hanover in 1736. Any hint of shipwreck would, from the vantage point of a viewer in 1813, also presage Hamilton's death.
Further Reading:
Entry for "Hamilton, John (d. 1755), naval officer," in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford UP, 2004; online edn, 2008).
Brian Southam, Jane Austen and the Navy (Hambledon and London, 2000).
Middle Room.—East Side.
Mannings # 2045
Current title: "Cimon and Iphigenia"
Location: Royal Collection
This painting may respond to any number of well-known reworkings of the mythological story, including John Dryden's Fables Ancient and Modern, Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry, and David Garrick's play Cymon.
In Boccaccio's version, Galesus, the handsome son of a nobleman, is nicknamed "Cymon" and forced to live among his father's rustic tenants as punishment for his boorish ways. When Cymon spies Iphigenia lying by a fountain in a wooded glade, her beauty inflames his passion and he transforms himself into a gentleman in order to win her hand in marriage.
As Mannings explains, Reynolds makes notable alterations to the standard storyline, including substituting Cupid for Fortune and showing Iphigenia as naked. The resulting composition is similar to both "Venus and Cupid" (No. 29) and "Nymph and boy" (No. 75)—variations on the shared nymph and shepherd theme—although the nude body of Iphigenia is decidedly more sensuous than his comparatively modest depictions of Venus and her son.
Mannings suggests that the original narrative was likely less important to Reynolds than the desire to emulate Titian and Correggio. Reynolds' model was allegedly a "battered courtesan."
This painting, which is by far the most erotic in the 1813 show, caught the eye of the Prince Regent, who obtained it for Carlton House on 16 May 1814—a year after seeing it in the 1813 exhibit.
Middle Room.—East Side.
Mannings # 2022
Current title: "Boy Holding a Pen"
Location: Private Collection, South Africa
This image reworks an earlier painting called Boy Reading, a picture with which it has often been confused. There exists a seventeenth-century Dutch tradition of painting that shows boys studying, which is why this picture is said to reflect Rembrandt's influence upon Reynolds.
Further Reading:
Alan Richardson, "Reading Practices," in Jane Austen in Context, ed. Janet Todd (Cambridge UP, 2005), 397-405.
Middle Room.—East Side.
Mannings # 2146
Current title: "Robinetta"
Location: Joan Whitney Payson Gallery of Art, Portland, Maine
Similar to "Girl with Kitten," which circulated as a print under the title of Felina (see No. 40), "Robinette" shows a girl with a tamed bird on her shoulder. By virtue of the title, the painting compares girlishness to the flightiness of the robin. "Robinette" is an example of subject painting, which presents an unidentified model as an abstraction or idea.
By contrast, the next picture in the exhibit, "Portrait of Miss Bowles, afterwards Mrs. Palmer" (No. 46), shows a named sitter and her pet dog and so does not insist upon an abstraction. Household pets appear besides many of Reynolds' identified sitters, including the portraits of infant Princess Sophia with a royal puppy (No. 102) and Frances Abington with a lapdog (No. 103).
Further Reading:
Diana Donald, Picturing Animals in Britain, 1750-1850 (Yale UP, 2007).
Middle Room.—East Side.
Mannings # 231
Current title: "Miss Bowles (1772-1812)"
Location: Wallace Collection, London
Jane Bowles was the daughter of Oldfield Bowles of North Aston and his second wife, the daughter of Sir Abraham Elton. In 1791 she married Richard Palmer of Holme Park, Sunning, in Berkshire.
Miss Bowles' parents originally wanted to commission Jane's portrait from George Romney, because Reynolds' "pictures fade." Sir George Beaumont insisted that they "take the chance; even a faded picture from Reynolds will be the finest thing you have" (Mannings).
Other Reynolds pictures in the show that depict girls with pets include: No. 21, No. 40, No. 45, No. 50, and No. 102. For a description of what distinguishes portraiture from subject painting in such pictures, see the notes at No. 45.
Jane Bowles was only three years older than Jane Austen, who was born in 1775. It might be interesting to compare this image to the so-called "Rice Portrait" of Austen, allegedly the only portrait ever painted of the author while still a girl. See: http://www.janeaustenriceportrait.com/.
Further Reading:
Diana Donald, Picturing Animals in Britain, 1750-1850 (Yale UP, 2007).
Middle Room.—East Side.
Mannings # 845
Current title: "Mrs. Hartley (1751-1824)"
Location: Tate Gallery, London
Popular actress Elizabeth Hartley was the daughter of James and Eleanor White of Berrow, in Somerset. She was the chambermaid and eventual mistress of a Mr. Hartley, who first encouraged her to pursue acting to supplement their income.
After several successful stage roles, Elizabeth caught the attention of fellow actor David Garrick (No. 32) who, seeking to employ her at Drury Lane, sent his colleague John Moody to observe her performance. Moody reported that "Mrs. Hartley is a good figure, with a handsome, small face, and very much freckled; her hair red and her neck and shoulders well turned. There is not the least harmony in her voice; but when forced (which she never fails to do on every occasion) is loud and strong, but such an inarticulate gabble that you must be acquainted with her part to understand her" (quoted from ODNB).
In spite of her freckles and flashes of vulgarity, Elizabeth Hartley remained a hugely popular actress throughout her career, much praised for her natural performances. "The crowd flocked to see Mrs. Hartley kneel in Elfrida as they flocked to see Mrs. Siddons walk in her sleep as Lady Macbeth" (ODNB). As the comparison suggests, in her day Mrs. Hartley was nearly as famous as Sarah Siddons (No. 2). She retired in 1780.
Mrs. Hartley appears again in the retrospective, and in the same role of wood nymph, a few canvasses to the right (No. 53). A third portrait, as Madonna, hangs at No. 117. She posed for many painters, not just for Reynolds, usually appearing in portraits in character parts.
Other actresses and performers in the 1813 show also include Elizabeth Ann Sheridan (No. 101), Frances Abington (No. 103), and Mrs. Quarrington (No. 116). Note that her fellow thespians hang either in the North or South rooms—leaving celebrity actress Elizabeth Hartley to rule over the Middle Room.
Further Reading:
Entry for "Hartley [née White], Elizabeth (1750/51-1824), actress," in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford UP, 2004).
Paula Byrne, Jane Austen and the Theatre (Hambledon and London, 2002).
Penny Gay, Jane Austen and the Theatre (Cambridge UP, 2002).
Middle Room.—East Side.
Mannings # 1145
Current title: "Louis Philippe Joseph, Duke of Chartres, later Duke of Orleans (1747-1793)"
Location: Royal Collection
The Duke of Orleans, popularly known as Philippe, was among the well-known casualties of the French Revolution, famously losing his life by guillotine in 1793.
Although he was part of the French royal house of Bourbon, the son of Louis-Philippe, then Duke of Orleans, and Henriette de Bourbon-Conti, he sided with the French revolutionaries—even terming himself "Philippe Égalité." He was nonetheless guillotined during the reign of terror.
The Duke was a great art collector, a known libertine, and a frequent visitor to England where he befriended the Prince of Wales. This large and much-admired portrait had been originally painted for the Prince, who hung it at Carlton House but took it down when the Duke sided with the revolutionaries in France. The very public loan of this picture to the British Institution in 1813 may signal a reconciliation of sorts with his memory.
Widely regarded as graceful and handsome, the Duke held the honorary post of colonel-general of hussars and is depicted in the uniform of the French cavalry brigade, wearing the ribbon of the Saint-Esprit.
Jane Austen had a cousin (later her sister-in-law), Eliza de Feuillide (1761- 1813), whose first husband had also died by guillotine. Eliza had married Jean-François Capot de Feuillide, a French army captain and self-styled count, or "Comte," becoming Comtesse de Feuillide. She and her mother returned to England in 1790, after the start of the French Revolution. Eliza's husband was arrested for conspiracy and guillotined in 1794. Jane's brother Henry Austen then courted Eliza, marrying her in December of 1797. Jane and Henry attended the Reynolds retrospective on 24 May 1813, about a month after Eliza's death in April.
After the 1813 exhibition closed, this large portrait was retained by the British Institution for four more months—as an object of study for art students.
Middle Room.—East Side.
Mannings # 2018
Current title: "Boy"
Location: Untraced
Maria Edgeworth, another female novelist who attended the 1813 retrospective, singled out Reynolds' pictures of children for praise: "His children from the sublime infant Samuel to the arch gipsey child are admirable" (Edgeworth, Letters, 1971). Mannings identifies this image as the "arch gipsey child" that caught Edgeworth's notice. "Infant Samuel" hangs in the North Room at No. 39.
It has been suggested that Reynolds only painted the head of this figure while Richard Westall completed the rest, using his younger brother as a model. Some have described this child's expression as Puck-like, which might warrant a look at nearby "Puck" (No. 54).
Further Reading:
Juliet McMasters, "The Children in Emma," in Persuasions 14 (1992): 62-67.
Middle Room.—East Side.
Mannings # 364
Current title: "Hester Frances Cholmondley (1763-1844)"
Location: Private Collection
In keeping with Reynolds' dominant mythological approach to children's portraits, Miss Fanny's pose may be a parody of Hercules wrestling Cerberus into submission. The capture of Cerberus, the three-headed hound that guarded the entrance to Hades, was the last of Hercules' famed labors. The print version of this picture was called "Crossing the Brook."
Hester Frances was the youngest daughter of Reverend Robert Cholmondeley and Mary Woffington and married William Bellingham in 1783. In 1778, novelist Frances Burney described her as "a rather pretty, pale Girl, very young and inartificial &, though Tall & grown up, treated by her family as a Child, & seemingly well content to think herself such" (quoted in Mannings).
Smaller breeds of dogs, now known as toy breeds, were gaining in popularity during the eighteenth century. This same shaggy breed of small dog also appears in No. 102 and No. 103.
Further Reading:
Diana Donald, Picturing Animals in Britain, 1750-1850 (Yale UP, 2007).
Middle Room.—East Side.
Mannings # 2054
Current title: "Cupid and Psyche"
Location: Private Collection
Although Psyche was a mere mortal, legend has it that her radiant beauty made even the goddess Venus jealous. Venus sent her son Cupid to shoot one of his famed arrows into Psyche, so that she might fall in love with the nearest vile thing that met her eye. But Cupid, himself smitten with the pretty girl, took Psyche to his palace and made love to her under the cover of darkness. In the story, Psyche's sisters next persuade her that Cupid is a giant serpent that must be slain, so the following night Psyche takes an oil lamp and knife to the place where Cupid lies asleep, prepared to murder him. Reynolds' scene captures the moment when Psyche lights the lamp, revealing Cupid's identity, and wakes him when in her confusion a drop of hot oil falls on his bare flesh. Cupid flees in anger, forcing Psyche to chase after him until Jupiter eventually reunites the lovers.
With nudity discreetly and consistently placed above eye level, the curatorial arrangement of the 1813 show balances this picture with "Cymon and Iphigenia" (No 43). It also smartly pairs this love story with nearby "Puck, from Midsummer Nights Dream" (No. 54)—a comedy in which Shakespeare reworks the popular story of Psyche and Cupid.
Middle Room.—East Side.
Mannings # 2134
Current title: "Old Man's Head in 'Profil Perdu'"
Location: Tate Gallery
The model for this piece was George White, whom Reynolds used in his paintings for several historical characters. The 1813 title suggests this was, specifically, a study for "Count Ugolino and his children in the dungeon" (No. 31), although the pose was not used in the final painting. The placement in separate rooms may confirm that even the 1813 curators thought these images more distinct than this title implied. When this image was engraved by J. Rogers, the print bore the more generic caption "A Man's Head."
Middle Room.—East Side.
Mannings # 2123
Current title: "Nymph and Bacchus"
Location: Private collection
Mrs. Hartley was a famous actress who retired in 1780. For a brief description of her career and fame, see the notes for her nearby portrait at No. 47.
Mannings identifies No. 53 in the British Institution show as a copy of No. 47, labeling it #854a. He allows that discrepancies in the historical record muddle this identification. Because elsewhere the 1813 curators took such care to hang copies in separate rooms, it seems unlikely that the two portraits of Mrs. Hartley on this wall showed identical scenes. We have therefore hung an alternate, which is Mannings #2123.
Either way, this image depicts Mrs. Harley again in the role of wood nymph—although in No. 47 she bears the Puck-like infant on her shoulder rather than in her lap.
The print version of this picture was entitled "Birth of Bacchus." Bacchus, the god of wine and fertility and the son of Jupiter and Semele, rests in Mrs. Hartley's lap. She plays the role of the Nysean nymph with whom it was said Bacchus lived. The she-goat Almathaea, one of the nurses of Jupiter (see notes for "Infant Jupiter" at No. 34), stands on the left. This is not the only young Bacchus in the 1813 show (see No. 28).
With the unusual distinction of having two portraits on one wall, Mrs. Hartley's celebrity is given particular prominence in this room (irrespective of whether the portraits were copies or distinct scenes). Fellow thespians in the 1813 show include: Sarah Siddons, to whom she is often compared (No. 2); David Garrick, with whom she worked (No. 32); Elizabeth Ann Sheridan (No. 101); Frances Abington (No. 103); and Mrs. Quarrington (No. 116). A third portrait of Mrs. Hartley—in the role of Madonna—hangs at No. 117, just beside that of Mrs. Quarrington as a saint.
The only other person with two portraits on a single wall is Reynolds himself, who appears twice on the wall opposite this one (at No. 71 and No. 76).
Further Reading:
Entry for "Hartley [née White], Elizabeth (1750/51-1824), actress," in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford UP, 2004).
Paula Byrne, Jane Austen and the Theatre (Hambledon and London, 2002).
Penny Gay, Jane Austen and the Theatre (Cambridge UP, 2002).
Middle Room.—East Side.
Mannings # 2142
Current title: "Puck"
Location: Private collection
This picture started as a portrait of a street urchin on the steps of Leicester Fields. George Nicol, one of the founders of Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery, noticed the portrait in Reynolds' studio while watching him paint the "Death of Cardinal Beaufort" for the Gallery. He admired it and commented to Alderman Boydell that "it can very easily come into the Shakespeare, if Sir Joshua will kindly place him on a mushroom, and give him fawn's ears, and make a Puck of him" (Mannings). The figures of Titania and Bottom, complete with ass' head, are visible in the far background.
One of the source texts for Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream is the story of Cupid and Psyche (see notes at nearby No. 51). Like Cupid, "Robin Goodfellow" is charged with magic that will make mortals fall in love with the first thing they clap eyes upon. In juxtaposing Reynolds' pictures, the 1813 curators would appear to have taken some familiarity with Shakespeare for granted (see also the notes at No. 41). In Mansfield Park, Austen remarks on this very assumption: "No doubt, one is familiar with Shakespeare in a degree... from one's earliest years. His celebrated passages are quoted by every body; they are in half the books we open, and we all talk Shakespeare, use his similies, and describe with his descriptions."
Middle Room.—East Side.
Mannings # 2180
Current title: "Virgin and Child"
Location: Petworth House
After this picture was exhibited in a short-lived and self-styled "British School Gallery" in 1803, it sold for 250 guineas to Lord Egremont—listed in the 1813 Catalogue as its owner. Egremont acquiesced to the high asking price because he believed it "one of the finest pictures that ever were painted" (Mannings).
The model for this subject picture is unknown, although the Madonna-and-child theme was not uncommon in portraits of aristocratic mothers and their newborns. See, for example, the implied visual allusion to the Madonna and Christ in "Portraits of the Duchess of Gloucester and child" at nearby No. 60. Moreover, actress Mrs. Hartley (No. 47 and No. 53) appears explicitly in the role of Madonna in No. 117.