Bernard Lens III, 1682–1740, British, The Reverand Dr. John Harris, 1707
- Title:
- The Reverand Dr. John Harris
- Date:
- 1707
- Medium:
- Watercolor and gouache over graphite on ivory
- Dimensions:
- Image: 3 1/4 x 2 1/2 inches (8.3 x 6.4 cm) and Frame: 4 1/4 x 3 5/8 x 3/8 inches (10.8 x 9.2 x 1 cm)
- Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed on paper attached to back of ivory: "The Reverend | Dr Harris one of the | prebans of Rochester & | Chapplain of the Lord High | Chancellor of Great Britain | Earle Cowper | Bernard Lens fecit by the | Life 1707"; inscribed on paper attached to frame's backing in pen and brown ink center: "The Rev.d Dr Harris | one of the Prebens of | Rochester | Chaplain to the Lord High | Chancellor of Great Brittain | Earl of Cowper | Author of the Lexicon Technicon | B. Lens ad visum pinxt | 1707"
Signed in gold, lower left: "BL"
- Credit Line:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Accession Number:
- B1974.2.66
- Classification:
- Drawings & Watercolors-Miniatures
- Collection:
- Prints and Drawings
- Subject Terms:
- portrait
- Access:
- Accessible by request in the Study Room [Request]
Note: As a COVID-19 precaution, the Study Room is closed until further notice. - Curatorial Comment:
- <double click to display>
- <double click to hide>Miniatures in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were painted, or "limned," on vellum, but Bernard Lens III popularized the use of Ivory supports for miniatures in England early in the eighteenth century. Lens's portrait of the Reverend Dr. John Harris of 1707 (cat. 16) is the earliest dated English miniature painted on ivory by an English artist. Although ivory was more durable than vellum, and capable of a shimmering luminosity when painted with thin, translucent washes of watercolor, artists initially found it a difficult support to work on, and techniques for painting on ivory were not perfected until later in the century.--Gillian Forrester,2001-05
- Exhibition History:
- <double click to display>
- <double click to hide>
English Portrait Drawings & Miniatures (Yale Center for British Art, 1979-12-05 - 1980-02-17)
- Link:
- https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:11618
- Export:
- XML | RDF
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