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Mrs. William Provis of Bath
176629 1/2 x 24 in. (74.9 x 61 cm)
Thomas R. A. Gainsborough
England (Sudbury, England, 1727 - 1788, London)
Object Type:
Painting
Medium and Support:
Oil on canvas
Credit Line:
George Eastman Collection of the University of Rochester
Accession Number:
1978.1
Location: Not currently on view
Collection:
George Eastman Collection
A founding member of the Royal Academy, Thomas R. A. Gainsborough was a premier 18th-century English portraitist whose upward trajectory to fame began with a strategic move to Bath, a town with many portrait-commissioning British gentry. This particular portrait captures Bath resident Ann Pigott in her lonely and isolated youth. At 17, she married a much older William Provis and was left alone and childless while he lived at his country estate. As British gentry were selling family art collections in face of financial strain from estate taxes implemented in 1894, newly-wealthy Americans were building art collections. George Eastman acquired this portrait in 1912 in that manner and later bequeathed it to the University of Rochester.[
Label text from It Came From the Vault exhibition, 2013]
Label text from It Came From the Vault exhibition, 2013]
Provenance
The sitter (ca. 1745-1813); to her daughter, Ann Pigott (1790-1854); to her husband's grandson, Cecil Hugh Pigott (1860-1893); to his wife at his death, Mary Agnes Smyth-Pigott (1856-1947); her anonymous sale, Christie's, London, May 19, 1911, lot 88; Colnaghi, London (dealer) and M. Knoedler, New York (dealer), May 27, 1911, book 5, stock no. 12440; Roebel and Reinhardt Galleries, Milwaukee WI, June 28, 1911; George Eastman (1854-1932), Rochester, NY, purchased 1912; his bequest to the University of Rochester, 1932; transferred to the Gallery in 1978
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Exhibition List
This object was included in the following exhibitions:
- A Group of Eighteenth Century Portraits from the Eastman Collection 12/18/1939 - 1/15/1940
- The George Eastman Collection of Paintings end date ca. December 1949
- The George Eastman Collection 12/1/1979 - 1/13/1980
- It Came from the Vault: Rarely Seen Works from MAG's Collection 3/17/2013 - 6/9/2013
Bibliography
This object has the following bibliographic references:
- Article Title: A Group of Eighteenth Century Portraits. Article Scope: Article. Memorial Art Gallery. Gallery Notes. Rochester, New York: Memorial Art Gallery, 1935-1995. Volume Number: 5, Issue Number: 3. Issue Date: December 1939-January 1940. Page Number: 2-3
- Article Scope: Entry and reproduction. Donald Rosenthal, ed. The George Eastman Collection. Rochester, New York: University of Rochester Press, 1979.
- Article Scope: Mention. Elizabeth Brayer. Magnum Opus: The Story of the Memorial Art Gallery, 1913-1988. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery, 1988.
- John D. Morse. Old master paintings in North America: over 3000 masterpieces by 50 great artists . New York, NY: Abbeville Press, 1979.
- Article Scope: Catalogue Raisonné Entry. Hugh Belsey. Thomas Gainsborough: The Portraits, Fancy Pictures and Copies after Old Masters. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2019. Volume Number: 2
- Sharon Poole. Weston Super-Mare: Georgian Watering-place, Regency Resort. self-published, 2021.
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This object is a member of the following portfolios:
Web Links
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It Came from the Vault exhibition catalogue
Entry for this artwork in the It Came from the Vault exhibition catalogue. The exhibition ran from March 17-June 9, 2013