id: 145999 accession number: 1971.2 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1971.2 updated: 2022-09-22 10:11:42.925000 Portrait of George Pitt, First Baron Rivers, 1769. Thomas Gainsborough (British, 1727–1788). Oil on canvas; framed: 261 x 181 x 9 cm (102 3/4 x 71 1/4 x 3 9/16 in.); unframed: 234.3 x 154.3 cm (92 1/4 x 60 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1971.2 title: Portrait of George Pitt, First Baron Rivers title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1769 creation date earliest: 1769 creation date latest: 1769 current location: 203A British Painting and Decorative Arts creditline: Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust copyright: --- culture: England, 18th century technique: oil on canvas department: European Painting and Sculpture collection: P - British before 1800 type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Thomas Gainsborough (British, 1727–1788) - artist --- measurements: Framed: 261 x 181 x 9 cm (102 3/4 x 71 1/4 x 3 9/16 in.); Unframed: 234.3 x 154.3 cm (92 1/4 x 60 3/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review: 1971 opening date: 1971-12-28T05:00:00 Year in Review: 1971. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (December 28, 1971-February 6, 1972). title: Vittorio Alfieri: Aristocratico Ribelle (1749-1803) opening date: 2003-10-08T00:00:00 Vittorio Alfieri: Aristocratico Ribelle (1749-1803). Turin State Archives, Torino, Italy (October 8, 2003-January 12, 2004). title: CMA @ Oberlin (second rotation) opening date: 2006-04-03T00:00:00 CMA @ Oberlin (second rotation). Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (April 3-June 5, 2006). title: British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020) opening date: 2020-06-30T04:00:00 British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Royal Academy, London, United Kingdom (1769). * Works by Old Masters (Winter Exhibition).Royal Academy, London, United Kingdom (1881). * The First Hundred Years of the Royal Academy (Winter Exhibition) Royal Academy, London, United Kingdom (1951-1952). --- PROVENANCE George Pitt, First Lord Rivers [1721-1803], Stratfield Saye House, Hampshire, by descent to his grandson, William Horace Pitt-Rivers, 3rd Lord Rivers date: 1769-1803 footnotes: citations: William Horace Pitt-Rivers, 3rd Lord Rivers [1777-1831], Rushmore, Dorset, by descent to Horace, 6th Lord Rivers date: 1803-1831 footnotes: citations: Horace, 6th Lord Rivers [1814-1880], by descent to his cousin, Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt date: 1831-1880 footnotes: citations: Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt [1827-1900], by descent to his grandson George Henry Lane-Fox-Pitt-Rivers date: 1880-1900 footnotes: * Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt was the second son of Marcia Lucy [died 1822], the youngest sister of George, 2nd Lord Rivers. citations: George Henry Lane-Fox-Pitt-Rivers [1890-1966], Hinton St. Mary, Dorset, passed to his common-law wife Stella date: 1900-1966 footnotes: citations: Stella Pitt-Rivers, sold to E.V. Thaw date: 1966-1970 footnotes: * Stella was the common-law wife of George Henry Lane-Fox-Pitt-Rivers, and later married M. Robert Maumen citations: (E. V. Thaw, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: 1970-1971 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1971- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: Gainsborough was famous for his portraits, but he especially loved painting landscapes. digital description: wall description: Although George Pitt reputedly led a life of debauchery and was a cruel husband, Thomas Gainsborough’s portrait endows him with an aura of dignity and refinement. This work was painted between Pitt’s appointments as ambassador to Turin, Italy, and Madrid, Spain, but he is very much the English gentleman at home on his country estate. Gainsborough balances the deep scarlet and green facing of Pitt’s military uniform with the cool, woodland landscape painted with wide, liquid brushstrokes of mauves, grays, and silvers. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS
Belsey, Hugh. Thomas Gainsborough: The Portraits, Fancy Pictures and Copies After Old Masters. New Haven, CT. Yale University Press, 2019. p. 712-714.
page number: url: Brock-Arnold, George M. Gainsborough. London, United Kingdom: S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1889. page number: p. 31 url: Monkhouse, Cosmo. "Thomas Gainsborough." In Dictionary of National Biography. Leslie Stephen, ed., 361-367. New York: Macmillan, 1885. page number: Mentioned: Vol. XX, P. 363 url: Armstrong, Walter. Gainsborough and His Place in English Art. New York, NY: C. Scribner's Sons, 1898. page number: Reproduced: p. 110-111, vol. I; Mentioned: p. 117, 201, vol. II url: Gower, Ronald Sutherland, Lord. Thomas Gainsborough. [with Illustrations.]. London: George Bell & Sons, 1903. page number: Mentioned: P. 53 url: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo1.ark:/13960/t2k651k8g Armstrong, Walter. Gainsborough and His Place in English Art: With 48 Plates. London: Heinemann, 1904. page number: Mentioned: P. 116, 147, 155, 277 url: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/gri.ark:/13960/t0xq0fr90 Graves, Algernon. The Royal Academy of Arts; A Complete Dictionary of Contributors and Their Work from Its Foundation in 1769 to 1904. London, United Kingdom: H. Graves and Co, 1905. page number: Reproduced: p. 191, vol III url: Boulton, William Biggs. Thomas Gainsborough: His Life, Work, Friends, and Sitters ... With Forty Illustrations. Methuen & Co: London, 1905. page number: Mentioned: P. 165 url: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/gri.ark:/13960/t98666g77 Menpes, Mortimer, and James Greig. Gainsborough. London, United Kingdom: A. and C. Black, 1909. page number: Reproduced: p. 79-80 url: Graves, Algernon. Century of Loan Exhibitions 1813-1912. London, United Kingdom: Graves, 1913. page number: Reproduced: p. 384, vol. I url: Whitley, William T. Artists and Their Friends in England, 1700-1799. London, United Kingdom & Boston, MA: Medici Society, 1928. page number: Reproduced: p. 378 url: Waterhouse, Ellis K. "Preliminary Check List of Portraits by Thomas Gainsborough." The Walpole Society, XXXIII (1948-50). page number: Reproduced: P. 91 url: Waterhouse, E. K. "The Exhibition 'The First Hundred Years of The Royal Academy'." The Burlington Magazine 94, no. 587 (1952): 48-54. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 51, fig. 17 url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/870794 Waterhouse, Ellis Kirkham. Gainsborough. London], United Kingdom: E. Hulton, 1958. page number: Reproduced: p. 21, no. 577, pl. 110 url: Talbot, William S. "Thomas Gainsborough, George Pitt, First Lord Rivers."
The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art LVIII no. 11 (November, 1971): 258-268. page number: Reproduced: cover, p. 257, and details; fig. 1,7,8 url: Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisition Press Release,” May 12, 1971, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. page number: url: https://archive.org/details/cmapr1895 Waterhouse, Ellis. “Bath and Gainsborough.” Apollo: The International Magazine of Art & Antiques 98 (November 1973): 360–65. page number: Mentioned: P. 365; reproduced: P. 363, fig. II url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 193 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n213 The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. page number: Mentioned: p. 189-191; Reproduced: p. 190 url: Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms and Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. page number: Reproduced: p. 124 url: Sloman, Susan. Gainsborough in Bath. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002. page number: Reproduced: p. 49, fig. 58 url: Maggio Serra, Rosanna. Vittorio Alfieri: aristocratico ribelle (1749-1803) : [Torino, Archivio di Stato, 5 ottobre 2003-11 gennaio 2004]. Milano, Italy: Electa, 2003. page number: Reproduced: p. 134 url: Fliegel, Stephen N. Arms & Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. page number: Reproduced: p. 142 url: Hamilton, James. Gainsborough: A Portrait. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2017. page number: Mentioned: p. 245 url: Belsey, Hugh. Thomas Gainsborough: The Portraits, Fancy Pictures and Copies After Old Masters. New Haven : Published for the Paul mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, 2019. page number: Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 1, 4, 12, 278, 548, 712-714, cat. 770 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1971.2/1971.2_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1971.2/1971.2_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1971.2/1971.2_full.tif