Portrait of Sir Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816) was an eminent English lawyer, Member of Parliament, and playwright. He was part of a remarkable circle of writers and artists, including Gainsborough, Reynolds, and John Constable, that met at the home of Sir George Beaumont (whose portrait by Reynolds is also in the collection). Although Gainsborough renders Sheridan’s face with small, careful strokes, his hair and clothes display Gainsborough’s favorite sketchy technique and vigorous brushwork thought to be quite unorthodox by fellow members of the Royal Academy. This work is normally displayed in the parlor at Clayton, the historic home of Henry Clay Frick, although Frick’s interest in English portraiture dates mainly to the years after the family left Pittsburgh.