Portrait of Thomas Gray

c. 1710

PORTRAIT OF THOMAS GRAY (English, c. 1710) attributed to Jonathan Richardson (English, 1667-1745), a member of the Royal Academy. This subject of this oil on canvas portrait is Thomas Gray (1716-1771), British scholar and poet famous for his work “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.” He is depicted standing at three-quarter length wearing a blue velvet jacket over a yellow silk damask vest and a white silk shirt with lace cuffs and jabot. His long brown hair is worn loose. His left arm is crocked with his hand on his hip while a bird rests on the extended finger of his right hand. The background on the left side of the canvas depicts a mountainous landscape. The canvas is housed in a foliate carved oak frame with an inscribed brass plaque on the bottom which reads “THOS. GRAY, ÆTAT XX / J. RICHARDSON.”

English

oil on canvas

45" x 38"

Bequest of Mrs. Cyril B. Judge, 1969.

PSNC.1937