Miss Beatrix Lister

1765

Sir Joshua Reynolds

Associated Names
Sir Joshua Reynolds

Painter, British, 1723 - 1792

This painting depicts the upper half of a seated young woman who is facing forward. She has fair skin, pale eyebrows, gray eyes, and thin lips in a neutral expression. The right side of her face is partially in shadow. Her light brown hair is styled up with a blue ribbon and pearl ornaments. She wears a black dress with lace detailing, a red gem, and pearl strands at the neckline. The dress also features blue slits in the arms, blue bows at each elbow, and lace cuffs at the end of the long sleeves. She wears a pearl necklace with a blue bow in the back and holds a small white dog on her lap. The background is dark brown, with a vertical strip of lighter brown on the right.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Margaret Mellon Hitchcock

  • Dimensions

    overall: 74.9 x 62.2 cm (29 1/2 x 24 1/2 in.)
    framed: 92.4 x 79.4 cm (36 3/8 x 31 1/4 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1995.3.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

By inheritance to the sitter's son, Thomas Lister Parker [1779-1858], Browsholme, York County, until at least 1817;[1] probably by inheritance to Thomas Lister, 4th baron Ribblesdale [1854-1925], Gisburne Park, near Clitheroe, York County, from at least 1878;[2] purchased 2 July 1918 by (Thos. Agnew & Sons., Ltd., London); sold 27 February 1919 to Lady Michelham [d. 1927], London; sold 28 November 1921 back to (Thos. Agnew & Sons., Ltd., London);[3] sold 17 May 1923 to (Arthur J. Sulley & Co., London).[4] Mr. and Mrs. William Larimer Mellon, Pittsburgh, by 1925;[5] their daughter, Margaret Mellon Hitchcock [Mrs. Thomas Mellon Hitchcock, b. 1901], New York; gift 1995 to NGA.
[1] He lent the painting to an exhibition in 1817.
[2] The sitter's brother, Thomas Lister [1752-1826], was created the first Baron Ribblesdale in 1797. According to Algernon Graves and William Vine Cronin (A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, 4 vols., London, 1899: 2:588-589), the painting probably returned to the sitter's brother's descendants after the death of her son. The painting is recorded as being at Gisburne Park in a publication of 1878 (Thomas Dunham Whitaker, The History and Antiquities of the Deanery of Craven in the County of York, edited by A.W. Morant, 3rd ed., Leeds and London, 1878: 53). "Lord Ribblesdale" lent the painting to two exhibitions, in 1883 and 1908.
[3] Agnew stock books, copies in NGA curatorial files provided by the Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles. See also David Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, 2 vols., New Haven and London, 2000: 1:308, no. 1134.
[4] Mannings 2000, 1:308, no. 1134. The author identified the painting as "untraced" and illustrated a copy, although the NGA had acquired the painting five years earlier.
[5] The Mellons lent the painting to an exhibition in 1925.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1817

  • Pictures by Deceased British Artists, British Institution, London, 1817, no. 4.

1883

  • Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A., Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1883-1884, no. 91.

1908

  • Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and Deceased Masters of the British School. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy, London, 1908, no. 151.

1925

  • An Exhibition of Paintings by Old Masters from Pittsburgh Collections, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1925, no. 66.

Bibliography

1884

  • Catalogue of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A., exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery, 1883-1884. London, 1884: 46, no. 91.

1899

  • Graves, Algernon, and William Vine Cronin. A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds. 4 vols. London, 1899: 2:588-589.

1900

  • Armstrong, Sir Walter. Sir Joshua Reynolds, First President of the Royal Academy. London and New York, 1900: 217.

1903

  • Baldry, Alfred Lys. Sir Joshua Reynolds. London and New York, 1903: xli.

1941

  • Waterhouse, Ellis K. Reynolds. London, 1941: 56, 93.

2000

  • Mannings, David. Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings. 2 vols. New Haven, 2000: 1:308, no. 1134, 2:364, fig. 813.

Wikidata ID

Q20178307

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