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Miss Elizabeth Ingram
Joshua Reynolds1757
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Liverpool, United Kingdom
This half-length portrait is characteristic of Reynolds’s style after his return from Italy in 1752. The sculptural pose of the figure and the heavy column in the background give the portrait an air of grandeur and are typical of Reynolds’s efforts to elevate portrait painting even in fairly routine assignments. Elizabeth Ingram, 24 years old at the date of this portrait, came from a Wakefield family. Her face has lost its original flesh tints because Reynolds often used a fugitive pink pigment in his portraits of this period.
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Details
- Title: Miss Elizabeth Ingram
- Creator: Sir Joshua Reynolds
- Creator Lifespan: 1723/1792
- Creator Nationality: British
- Creator Gender: Male
- Creator Death Place: London, England
- Creator Birth Place: Plympton, Devon, England
- Date Created: 1757
- tag / style: Joshua Reynolds; portrait; dress; gown; society; column; grandeur; blue
- Physical Dimensions: w1015 x h1270 cm (Without frame)
- Artist biographical information: Reynolds, born in 1723, came from Devon. His father was a clergyman and master of the local grammar school, so he was brought up in an atmosphere of learning. His love of books and philosophical debate remained one of his strongest characteristics throughout his life, and he was friendlier with literary men, such as Doctor Johnson, James Boswell and Oliver Goldsmith, than he was with his fellow-artists. His strongest impulse as an artist lay in proving that painting was one of the liberal arts, whose greatness came from the thought that went into it, rather than a craft or skill. Technically, Reynolds was a flawed artist, as many of his contemporaries came to realise. He was never a great draughtsman. He disguised his limitations as a painter under a liking for experimentation with colours and glazes. He justified this to himself as a way of recreating the styles of the Old Masters. This was a key part of Reynolds's intellectual stance. Regarding the taste of the British public for art as limited, he believed that by imitating the Old Masters he would help educate patrons. But realistically, he also recognised that their taste could not be 'improved' overnight. He continued to work largely in the field of portraits, which were what British patrons most wanted. For a long time he limited the way he imitated the artists of the past, only gradually expanding his repertoire. He was annoyed when younger rivals such as Gainsborough and Romney rocked the boat, even while he recognised their abilities.
- Additional artwork information: To take a closer look at this painting and Sir Joshua Reynolds please follow this link to our online feature: http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/online/featuredartists/reynolds/
- Type: Oil on canvas
- Rights: Purchased with the assistance of the Art Fund in 1964
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