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    300 years
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    Portrait of Boulter Tomlinson

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    Portrait of Boulter Tomlinson
    Portrait of Boulter Tomlinson
    Portrait of Boulter Tomlinson
    National Museum Wales, Cardiff
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    Portrait of Boulter Tomlinson
    Date
    1740
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 127 x 101.6 cm
    Imperial: 50 x 40 in.
    Collection
    National Museum Wales, Cardiff. To license image, click here.
    Accession Number
    NMW A 5194
    Wilson Online Reference
    P5
    Exhibited
    Tercentenary 2014 (ex-cat exhibited at National Museum of Wales, Cardiff)
    Provenance
    Sold from Stoke Edith House, Herefordshire after 1947; with Agnew's, London; purchased by the National Museum of Wales, 1965
    Signature/inscription
    Signed and dated mid-right on base of column: R. Wilson 1740
    Techniques and materials
    The red ground, perhaps a commercial preparation, is a little unusual but the flesh tones are underpainted in grey, as is normally found in Wilson's work. X-radiography shows that the initial design was for a simple landscape background. No underdrawing visible in infra-red light.
    Mount inscriptions
    Frame inscribed: Boulter Tomlinson married Sarah Foley. Painted by R. Wilson at the Bedford Coffee House, Covent Garden 1742 [sic]
    Subject
    Boulter Tomlinson was a gentleman who lived in Cheltenham and married Sarah Foley, daughter of Thomas Foley and Mary Wharter of Stoke Edith House, Herefordshire
    Critical commentary
    The columns and fountain indicate that the sitter wished to be represented as a man of some wealth
    Previous Cat/Ref Nos
    1965.1
    More Information
    John Steegman recorded the painting at Stoke Edith in 1947, when he noted the inscription on the frame
    Condition/Conservation
    Kate Lowry has noted: Original linen canvas has simple weave with about 13 threads per sq. cm. Original turnovers removed at time of lining. An old right-angled tear in original canvas at lower left in fountain and small hole to left of sitter's chin repaired by lining. Pine stretcher probably dates from present lining. Commercially prepared oil ground is red in colour. Flesh is underpainted with an opaque grey tone whilst the background has a transparent warm brown underpaint. Notable decorative pattern of lace cuffs achieved by drawing with the brush handle in wet paint. No underdrawing visible in infra-red light but X-ray suggests a landscape may have originally been planned for the upper background. Widespread mature cracks. No drying cracks.
    Updated by Compiler
    2024-09-03 00:00:00

    Exhibitions

    • New Haven, Yale Center for British Art & Cardiff, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, 6 March - 29 October 2014
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