Images(2)

Portrait of Mr. Magnus

Date1770

Attributed to Ozias Humphry (1742-1810)

MediumWatecolor on ivory glued to cardstock

DimensionsIvory Primary Support: 1 13/16 x 1 11/16in. (4.6 x 4.3cm); Cardstock Secondary Support: 1 7/8 x 1 15/16in. (4.8 x 4.9cm); Oval Composition: 1 1/2 x 1 1/8in. (3.8 x 2.9cm); and Framed (together with 4 other miniatures, incl. top ornament): 8 7/16 x 8 9/16in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1985-289

DescriptionA miniature, unfinished, bust-length portrait of a blue-eyed, brown-haired man turned 3/4 to the right, his eyes toward the viewer and his head 3/4 toward the viewer. He wears a coat washed with pink (possibly an underlayer for a garment ultimately intended to be red). An oval composition is marked off on the larger rectangle of ivory, with paint daubs extending a bit outside the composition. The ivory is glued to a larger rectangular piece of cardstock.
When purchased at auction 27 March 1985, this image was group-framed with 1985-149, -290, -291, -292, and -293.
Label TextHumphry's biographer, George Williamson (1918), opined (pp. 77-78) that "the most pleasing miniatures that remain of Humphry's work are undoubtedly those which he never completed; his sketches on ivory being extraordinarily beautiful. In portraiture they must have been absolutely accurate, in colouring and composition they are full of charm, and they far exceed in intrinsic beauty his more elaborately finished works. He has delineated all that was necessary to form a portrait, and did we but know him from his unfinished works, his position in the art world would be of far higher importance than it is."

Certainly this sketchy, unfinished, quickly rendered image shows how successfully and economically Humphry could capture a sitter's salient features. It also is a good illustration of Humphry's working methods, showing daubs of paint extending beyond the oval composition marked off on a larger, rectangular piece of ivory. The thin pink wash over the sitter's coat would have been received a denser application of color before the image was finished.
InscribedOn the back of the cardstock secondary support in brown ink in script is "Mr. Magnus/1770." Below the foregoing, in pencil, is "399/~". See Note 1.
ProvenanceProbably from the artist to his natural son (and godson), William Upcott (1799-1845); to his friend, Charles Hampden Turner; to various, now-unidentified owners; to David S. Lavender, CWF's vendor.