Francis Barber?

with the forthcoming blue plaque to Francis Barber at Dr Johnson's House, it's worth noting that in 1857, the original of this much-copied head study by Sir Joshua was loaned by Sir George Beaumont and exhibited in the Modern Masters section as 'A Negro / ?Frank Barber / Dr Johnson's Black Servant'

does this indicate that the sitter was traditonally identified as Barber  or that it was Beaumont's  conjecture, given that Barber,  Reynolds and Johnson were all associated with the 1780s anti-slavery cause, and perhaps also because the subject was again topical in the 1850s?

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A newly-discovered - or rather uncovered - painting by Joanna Boyce is unveiled by Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.     

more details:  https://www.academia.edu/144603133/Joanna_Boyce_portrait_of_Samuel_Naylor

Francis Williams, [nearly) FRS

a

A few weeks ago, Prof Fara Dabhiowala gave a brilliant talk on this painting [in V&A since 1928] decoding its presentation and accessories in a masterly art historical account of research in action. 

 The artist was identified as William Williams [no relation], the portrait was dated to 1760 and the contradictions between the naive depiction and the highly intellectual content is now fully explained.

The research repays study, so it's good to add that that the whole text is published in the LRB Fara Dabhoiwala · A Man of Parts and Learning: Francis Williams Gets His Due

 

The British Empire in the Art Gallery

the 'decolonisation' of British museums is a curious process, given that most museums with any historical aspect are effectively and unavoidably based on the imperialist narrative.    Virtually all now participate in its acknowledgement. 

on 27 September the NPG in London will host a day of presentations organised by the Centre for Museum Cultures at Birkbeck, surveying the British scene.  These include Reflections on Entangled Pasts at the Royal Academy and the Re-hang at Tate Britain, plus curatorial reports on the Bluecoat and Walker art galleries in Liverpool, Bristol art gallery and Manchester art gallery, with contributions from UCL's Legacies of British Slavery, the University of Birmingham, Devi Art Foundation, the University of the West of Scotland and the University of Melbourne.  Given the familiar focus on Caribbean slavery, there's a welcome input on the 'Indian' empire, plus  case studies of the Beckford legacy at Fonthill, the origins of 'Casta' and the infamous Rex Whistler mural in Tate Millbank's restaurant.

Program from 

BEAGworkshop@gmail.com

'mind you don't all go mad'

 

wrote Ruskin to Morris after thanking him for The Defence of Guenevere

"  You must be wondering much I have not written of your book before now, except in those cold words.  Bu I did not know what to make of it.  Good it is, in many ways wrong also in many ways but whether the wrong of it ought to be, or can be mended I cannot tell.  it is very gorgeous and very intense - but too much of mere sensation in it - there is nothing of human nature but the heart and eyes - your people all live on love, and crimson and gold.   Do you suppose that in the middle ages there were no heads fit for using as well as hearts or that people couldn't think inside of helmets?  The only thing that I can make out you consider a head good for is to have hair on it - what a blessed book it is for hair-deifiers!

It is also more obscure even than Browning.  I am quite certain that the blue closet is beyond all interpretation by any living being.  I speak more vexedly about the things than I should otherwise, and can't enjoy them as much as I should because I think you are doing Rossetti mischief with all these crotchets & quaintnesses and that you all live in a state of perpetual excitement about blood and murder and bones and pokes with lances which is inconsistent with good painter's work & proper business generally.  Still the book's a fine book as an exponent of what one may call Sacred Animalism - showing the nature of the Man-Animal in an elevated & fine state: and the passionate bits couldn't well be better.

The two bits I like best are the prayer of Rapunzel & Alice at page 106.   I haven't read Guenevere yet - but it looks good.  I don't say I'm right - mind - in all this - but mind you don't all go mad".

Ruskin to Morris  n.d  [MSS RP 2917]  in fine literary critical form

Fanny Eaton CENTENARY

 

            MARCH 2024  sees the centenary of the death of Fanny Eaton

#Led by Brian Eaton, her descendants plan to gather at her grave in Margravine Cemetery Hammersmith to celebrate her life and memory.

12.00 noon SUNDAY 3 March and  

12.00 noon MONDAY 4 March   potentially followed by refreshments nearby 

Margravine Cemetery lies between Barons Court underground

 and modern Charing Cross Hospital on Fulham Palace Road.  The grave plot is close to the Hospital end of cemetery.  From that west entrance, 50m from gate turn right and follow path round to right.

Margravine Cemetery is now a nature reserve.

ALL WELCOME

Now you see us Four Centuries of Women artists

 

Tate Britain  May - October 2024

Picture: tate.org.uk