Robert Burnard, 1800–1876, BritishFormerly attributed to John Zephaniah Bell, 1794–1833, BritishFormerly attributed to Jacques-Laurent Agasse, 1767–1849, Swiss, active in Britain (from 1800)
Title:
John Gubbins Newton and His Sister, Mary Newton
Date:
ca. 1833
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
92 1/2 x 56 1/2 inches (235 x 143.5 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B2001.2.66
Gallery Label:
These children—John, at seven years old, and Mary, aged eleven—were the only son and daughter of John Newton and his wife, Charity (née Gubbins), who lived at Millaton House in Devon. With its glassy, smooth finish, cold flesh tones, grave formality, and meticulous, almost obsessive attention to detail, this painting is a remarkably idiosyncratic example of early nineteenth-century British portraiture. Robert Burnard was not identified as the artist until the painting was cleaned in 2001, revealing his signature near the upper left corner. Burnard was a Cornish portrait painter who sailed with his family to Adelaide, South Australia, in 1840. He was given free passage with his wife and six children by a government keen to increase the population. Once there, Burnard seems to have set up a house painting, plumbing, and glazing business with his eldest son, although records suggest that he continued to paint portraits and still lifes that are now lost. This is the only painting by Burnard known to survive.\n\n Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016
