The Fruit Girl
after James Northcote, RA (Plymouth 1746 – London 1831)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
c. 1785 - 1800
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1285 x 1010
Order this imageCollection
Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk
NT 1210318
Summary
Oil painting on canvas or oil painting on print on canvas, Fruit Girl, after James Northcote (Plymouth 1746–London 1831), c. 1785-1800. Three-quarter-length portrait of a young girl, seated facing, wearing a bonnet and cloak and holding a basket of fruit, a King Charles Spaniel at her feet. Formerly catalogued as 'manner of John Opie RA'. At least two pictures entitled 'Fruit Girl' are recorded in James Northcote's Account Book (published by Jacob Simon, The Volume of the Walpole Society, vol. 58, 1995-6, pp. 21-125). The first is 'The Fruit Girl half length', exhibited RA 1785 (no. 172), engraved as 'Petite Fruitiere Anglaise' in 1785 by Thomas Gaugain (British Museum, 1866,0210.303) and later paired with 'Petite Laitiere Anglaise' (no. 226; British Museum, 1872,0713.1); see Simon 1995-6, pp. 52, no. 202; Gwynn 1898, no. 187). The 1785 picture was sold Christie's, 7 December 1945, lot 130 and later Sotheby's, 3 July 1946, lot 121. A second painting of the same title, either the 1785 picture or a version of it, was exhibited by the Polygraphic Society, Carlisle, 1790 and London, 1792 (see A Catalogue of Pictures, copied or multiplied (for sale) by a chymical and mechanical process […] Polygraphic Society, London 1792, p. 12, no. 47). 'Polygraphic' reproductions - i.e. reproductions printed on canvas finished off in oils - were sold for 6.6.0, including frames. Fruit Girl was exhibited by the Polygraphic Society alongside the specially-commissioned 'The Flower Girl, Sleeping' (Catalogue 1792, p. 10, no. 31 and p. 12, no. 48 (reduced size); Simon 1995-6, p. 58, no. 255) and The Spell, or Hobnelia (exh. RA 1783, engraved James Walker 1783, British Museum 1888,0716.368; Catalogue 1792 p. 12, no. 49; Simon 1995-6 p. 48, no. 161). A painting of the same title is listed as possibly having been exhibited '?SBA [Society of British Artists] 1829 (98)' (Simon 1995-6, p. 113, 730; Gwynn 1898, p. 288, as sent to Birmingham). The present picture may be a polygraphic reproduction; see also English Heritage, Brodsworth Hall (90007754).
Provenance
Presented to the National Trust by Sybil Lyne-Stephens, Lady Paston-Bedingfeld (1883 – 1985), 1952.
Marks and inscriptions
Bottom right : 209 Reverse : 209 NT to be returned - Oxborough Reverse, bottom left and top left : JJ0/A/1305/140/110 […]
Makers and roles
after James Northcote, RA (Plymouth 1746 – London 1831), publisher previously catalogued as manner of John Opie, RA (St Agnes 1761 – London 1807), publisher
References
Simon 1995-6: Jacob Simon, 'The Account Book of James Northcote', The Volume of the Walpole Society, vol. 58, 1995/6, pp. 21–125 Gwynn 1898: Stephen Lucius Gwynn, Memorials of an Eighteenth Century Painter (James Northcote), London 1898