Circle of Sir Joshua Reynolds

Circle of Sir Joshua Reynolds
Portrait of a young boy wearing a red jacket with a white collar
Oil on canvas
36.5 x 43.5cm; 14¼ x 17¼in

Provenance:
Possibly J. G. Marshall, 1868;
Possibly Charles Heath Warner;
Possibly by whom sold Christie's, 28 November 1879, lot 95, ( as Reynolds, 'Boy in a red coat'), where purchased by Fox;
English Private Collection

Exhibited:
Possibly Leeds, National Exhibition of Works of Art, 1868, no.1047 (as Reynolds, 'Head of a boy')

Literature:
Possibly Algernon Graves and William Vine Cronin, A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A., (London, 1899), vol.III, p1113 (as 'Boy in a red coat')

The present work depicts the same boy as a portrait featured on the BBC television series Fake or Fortune, subsequently sold at Bonhams, London (Old Master Paintings, 6-12 February 2024 lot 61). Although conservation of the Fake or Fortune work revealed it to date from 1831, it is believed that it relates to a lost original by Joshua Reynolds.