Live Auction 2676Old Master Paintings Part II
Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A. (Plympton, Devon 1723-1792 London)
Lot 223

Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A. (Plympton, Devon 1723-1792 London)

Ariadne

Closed31 January 2013

Price Realised

USD 80,500

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Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A. (Plympton, Devon 1723-1792 London)
Ariadne
oil on canvas
30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm.)

Bought from Reynolds in 1781 by William Lock.
William Smith, by 1813.
Alexander Baring, by 1833.
Lord Ashburton, by 1847; Christie's, 18 July 1924, lot 89 (140 gns. to Agnew).
with Agnews, London, from whom acquired on 16 February 1925 by
Robert C. Vose.
with Vose Gallery, Boston.
Mrs. Edwin S. Webster, Boston in 1939, and by descent to the present owner.

Specialist note

Reynolds painted a number of so-called 'subject pictures', in which he depicted his sitters in the guise of heroes and heroines from literature and mythology. The present sitter, once erroneously identified as Miss Elizabeth Ingram, is portrayed as Ariadne, a beautiful heroine of Greek mythology who is best known for helping Theseus overcome the Minotaur in Crete.