By Kind Permission of Lancaster University
By Kind Permission of Lancaster University
Cook and Wedderburn note:
Reynolds "Holy Family", No 78 in the National Gallery collection is now a wreck, owing to the painters unfortunate experiments with his pigments, and is no longer exhibited to the public ( Works, 3.30).
In his National Gallery handbook E.T. Cook mentions this painting in an Addenda, written in June 1888: 'This picture had fallen into such a bad state of preservation that it has not latterly been exhibited to the public, but it is very widely known from engravings, etc. The picture is full of "the grace of Reynolds" and of his mastery of the painter's art' ( Cook, A Popular Handbook to the National Gallery, p.644).
Sir Joshua Reynolds 1723-92
The Holy Family with the Infant St. John 1788
Oil on canvas, 195x146cm
Provenance: Presented by the British Institute to the Tate Gallery in 1830
Further Comments: Ruskin commented that the work was no longer exhibited publically due to Reynolds having 'wrecked' the picture through excessive pigment experimentation.
Collection: Tate Gallery, London