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Oil Painting - Portrait of a Boy

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© Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery

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Basic Information

Accession Number:1960P25
Collection:Fine Art Paintings and Sculpture
Date:1835 - 1845

Maker Information

Artist:Ford Madox Brown - View biography for Ford Madox Brown

Notes

This is one of Brown's earliest works and is a good example of his youthful style. The palette is sombre and dark but the chiaroscuro effect reveals his interest as a student with the old masters, notably Rembrandt and Velasquez. The work is most likely to have been produced between 1835, when Brown began his art training in Belgium and 1845, when he left Paris to move to England. Another picture of the 'Head of a Girl', at Tate, has the same minimal background, dark palette and strong light from the right, and may well have painted at a similar date.

This painting is likely to be the picture listed as 'Head of a Page Boy' and dated 1837 in the list of Brown's major works drawn up by Ford Madox Hueffer, his grandson, in 1896 but from the style and interest in light this date seems a little too early (Ford Madox Brown: A Record of his Life and Works, p. 432).
LM

Presented by L M Angus-Butterworth through the National Art-Collections Fund, 1960.

Further Information

Production Period:19th century
School/Style:Portrait
Medium:Oil on canvas.
Material(s):Canvas

Dimensions

Height:355 mm
Width:305 mm