The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 20, 2023

Portrait of the Ladies Amabel and Mary Jemima Yorke

c. 1761

This object has related works. See The Ladies Amabel and Mary Jemima Yorke

Joshua Reynolds

(British, 1723–1792)

England, 18th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 224.5 x 201.3 x 11.4 cm (88 3/8 x 79 1/4 x 4 1/2 in.); Unframed: 196 x 170 cm (77 3/16 x 66 15/16 in.); Former: 223.5 x 198 x 9 cm (88 x 77 15/16 x 3 9/16 in.)

Bequest of John L. Severance 1942.645

Location

203A British Painting and Decorative Arts

Fun Fact

Her family affectionately referred to Mary Jemima (at right) as "Mouse."

Description

Sisters Amabel (left) and Mary Jemima are shown playing on the grounds of their family’s country estate outside London. They wear loose, flowing garments invented specifically for the portrait rather than their usual outdoor dresses. Their father commissioned the painting to hang in the family’s city home in London’s St. James Square and it highlights their status as landowners. Joshua Reynolds painted this portrait after his return from Italy, where his studies inspired him to incorporate classical references. The famous ancient Roman Statue of a Girl with a Dove is echoed in Mary Jemima’s pose as she shields a dove from the family dog.

Provenance
c. 1761-1790
Philip Yorke, Viscount Royston, later Second Earl of Hardwicke [1720-1790], St. James Square, London, by descent to his daughter Amabel Yorke, later Hume-Campbell, 1st Countess de Grey
1790-1833
Amabel Hume-Campbell, 1st Countess de Grey [1751-1833], by descent to her great niece Anne Florence de Grey
1833-1880
Anne Florence de Grey, Baroness Lucas [died 1880], by descent to her son, Francis Thomas de Grey
1880-1905
Francis Thomas de Grey, Seventh Earl Cowper, Seventh Baron Lucas and Tenth Baron Dingwall [1834-1905], by descent to his nephew Auberon Thomas Herbert
1905-1916
Auberon Thomas Herbert, Eighth Baron Lucas and Eleventh Baron Dingwall [1876-1916], by descent to his sister Nan Ino Cooper
1916-1922
Nan Ino Cooper, Ninth Baroness Lucas and Twelfth Baroness Dingwall [1880-1958], consigned to sale at Christie's London
1922
(Christies’s, London, May 26, 1922, lot 78)
(Agnew, London)
(M. Knoedler & Co., New York)
John L. Severance, Cleveland, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1942-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Cotton, W., and John Burnet. Sir Joshua Reynolds and His Works. London, 1856. Mentioned: P. 36
Cook, Clarence. Art and Artists of Our Time. New York, NY: Selmar Hess, 1888. Reproduced: p. 37; Mentioned: p. 37-38
Graves, Algernon, and William Vine Cronin. A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds. [With Plates.]. London: H. Graves & Co, 1899. Mentioned: P. 1084
Armstrong, Walter. Sir Joshua Reynolds, First President of the Royal Academy. London, United Kingdom: W. Heinemann, 1900.
Bryan, Michael, and George Charles Williamson. Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers. New York, NY: Macmillan, 1903. Reproduced: p. 219
Baldry, A. L. Sir Joshua Reynolds. London: George Newnes, 1905. Mentioned: P. xxxii
Graves, Algernon. Century of Loan Exhibitions 1813-1912. London, United Kingdom: Graves, 1913. Mentioned: pgs. 1020, 1041, 1054, 1085, 1091, vol. 3
"American Art News, Vol. 20, No. 31." American Art News 20, no. 31 (May 13, 1922): 1-10. Reproduced: P. 4 www.jstor.org
Marillier, H. C. "Christie's" 1766 to 1925. London: Constable & Company, Ltd, 1926. Mentioned: P. 196
Toynbee, Paget. "Horace Walpole's Journals of Visits to Country Seats, etc." The Walpole Society, XVI (1927--28) Reproduced: p. 40
Waterhouse, Ellis Kirkham. Reynolds. London, United Kingdom: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, 1941. Mentioned: p. 117; Reproduced: p. 121, pl. 70
Catalogue of the John L. Severance Collection: Bequest of John L. Severance, 1936. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1942. Reproduced: p. [18], Plate VI, cat. no. 14; Mentioned: p. 22, cat. no. 14 archive.org
Francis, Henry S. "Bequest of John L. Severance, 1936." The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art XXIX, no. 9 (November, 1942):131-136. Reproduced: p. 133; Mentioned: p. 136
Richard, Edgar P. "Recent Acquisitions: Ladies Amabel and Mary Jemima Yorke, by Reynolds." The Art Quarterly VI, no. 2 (Spring 1943): 146-149. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 146-149
Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1945. Reproduced: p. 18 archive.org
Flexner, James Thomas. John Singleton Copley. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co, 1948. Mentioned: p. 32, 132; Reproduced: pl. 3
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. Reproduced: p. 259, fig. 2
Coe, Nancy. The History of the Collecting of European Paintings and Drawings in the City of Cleveland. 1955. Mentioned: p. 234-235, vol. II; Reproduced: no. 14, XLVII
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 469 archive.org
Milliken, William Mathewson. The Cleveland Museum of Art. New York, NY: H.N. Abrams, 1958. Reproduced: p. 47
Argan, Giulio Carlo. "Reynolds." In Encyclopedia of World Art. Bernard S. Myers, ed., 202-207. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959. Mentioned: P. 206
Gimpel, René. Journal d'un collectionneur, marchand de tableaux. [Paris]: Calmann-Lévy, 1963. Mentioned: P. 236
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 154 archive.org
Cleveland Museum of Art. Selected Works: Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. Reproduced: no. 194
Cormack, Malcolm, "The Ledgers of Sir Joshua Reynolds." The Walpole Society, XLII (1968-70) Reproduced: p. 121
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 154 archive.org
Hamilton, Edward. The Engraved Works, of Sir Joshua Reynolds; A Catalogue Raisonné of the Engravings Made After His Paintings from 1755-1822, with Descriptions of the States of Each Plate, Biographical Sketches of the Persons Represented, a List of Pictures Which Have Been Engraved, Names of the Possessors, and Other Particulars. Amsterdam, Netherlands: G.W. Hissink, 1973. Reproduced: p. 139
Waterhouse, Ellis Kirkham. Reynolds. New York, NY: Phaidon; [distributed by Praeger], 1973. Reproduced: pl. 26
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 192 archive.org
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. Mentioned: p. 210-212; Reproduced: p. 211
Flexner, James Thomas. John Singleton Copley. New York, NY: Fordham University Press, 1993. Pl. 11
Kirsh, Andrea, and Rustin S. Levenson. Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000. Reproduced: p. 167, no. 174
Wiles, Stephanie, "British Invasion", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 46 no. 04, April 2006 Mentioned & reproduced: 8-9 archive.org
Exhibition history

British Institution, London, United Kingdom (1813).

Suffolk Street, London, United Kingdom (1833).

Family Portraits,Royal Academy, Burlington House, London, United Kingdom (1875).

Old Masters Exhibition, Grafton Gallery, London, United Kingdom (1895).

Second National Exhibition, Woman and Child in Art, London, United Kingdom (1913-1914).

The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Museum of Art (1936).

The Venetian Tradition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 8, 1956-January 1, 1957).

Style, Truth and the Portrait. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 1-November 19, 1963).

Sir Joshua Reynolds. Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (January 16-March 31, 1986).

CMA @ Oberlin (second rotation). Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (April 3-June 5, 2006).

British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1942.645