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Portrait of Miss Franks
Joshua Reynolds (British, 1723–1792)
Title
Portrait of Miss Franks
Artist
Joshua Reynolds (British, 1723–1792)
Date
1766
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
30 1/4 × 25 1/4 in. (76.8 × 64.1 cm)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Sarah Joslyn
Object Number
1934.428
On View
On view
Provenance
Purchased at his sale, Christie’s, June 9, 1888, lot 344, as Mrs. Joseph Franks, property of Franks, by Davis [1];
Miss Turner by 1903 [2];
With Paul & Long, New York, by 1931;
Purchased from Paul & Long, New York, by Sarah Joslyn, Omaha, August 17, 1931;
Her gift to Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, 1934.
[1] There are two portraits by Reynolds of sisters painted in the same year, Mrs. Franks and Miss Franks. The identity of the Franks sisters has been a key note of confusion until possibly as late as the 1950’s, further muddled by the fact that both portraits went to sale at Christie’s at the same time. However, most accounts seem to agree Lot 344 is probably Joslyn’s Miss Franks.
[2] According to David Manning’s Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings the painting failed to sell at Christie’s on June 9, 1888, and was then bought privately from E. Dawkins on May 23, 1901 by Agnew’s who sold it to Laurie & Co., then with Miss Turner by 1903. Turner lent the work to the Loan Collection of Portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, George Romney, John Hoppner, Sir Henry Raeburn, and other Artists, City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 1903.
Exhibition History
Loan Collection of Portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, George Romney, John Hoppner, Sir Henry Raeburn, and other Artists, City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 1903.
Notable Collections at Joslyn, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, November 30, 1956–January 1, 1957.
Ninety Years of Joslyn Art Museum, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, October 27, 2021–May 1, 2022.
Titian to Monet: European Paintings from Joslyn Art Museum, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA, October 14, 2022–January 8, 2023; Rembrandt to Monet: 500 Years of European Painting from Joslyn Art Museum, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK, February 22–May 28, 2023.
Published References
Algernon Graves and William Vine Cronin, A history of the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, vol. 1 (London: Henry Graves and Co., 1899), 339.
Whitworth Wallis and Arthur Bensley Chamberlain, Illustrated Catalogue of a Loan Collection of Portraits: By Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, George Romney, John Hoppner, Sir Henry Raeburn, and other Artists (Birmingham: City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 1903), (repro.).
Algernon Graves, Art sales from early in the eighteenth century to early in the twentieth century (mostly old master and early English pictures) (London: A. Graves, 1918–21), 45, 65.
Ellis K. Waterhouse, Reynolds (Boston: Boston Book & Art Shop, 1955), 57.
John D. Morse, Old Master Paintings in North America: A Comprehensive Guide to Locating and Enjoying Over 3000 Masterpieces by 50 Great Artists (New York: Abbeville Press, 1979), 237.
Holliday T. Day and Hollister Sturges, eds., Joslyn Art Museum: Paintings & Sculpture from the European & American Collections (Omaha: Joslyn Art Museum, 1987), 62–63, (repro.).
Jennifer C. Watson, Reynolds in Canada (Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1988), 40–41, (repro.).
David Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, 2 vols (London: Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, 2000).
Taylor J. Acosta, European Paintings and Sculpture from Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha: Joslyn Art Museum, 2020), 110–111, (repro.).
