Henry Bowles Howard, 12th Earl of Suffolk and 5th Earl of Berkshire by Sir Joshua Reynolds

Sir Joshua Reynolds
1723-1792 | British

Sir Henry Bowles Howard, 12th Earl of Suffolk and 5th Earl of Berkshire

Oil on canvas

Sir Joshua Reynolds is unequivocally considered the most important English portraitist of the 18th century who was instrumental in adapting the Grand Manner style in the portrait genre. In fact, when the Royal Academy was founded in 1768, Reynolds was elected its first President, setting the precedent of quality for which all other portraitists would strive.

Reynolds's portrait of Henry Bowles Howard, 12th Earl of Suffolk, showcases his genius in the genre and mastery over the medium. Reynolds’s portrait of the Earl expertly invokes classical values with strong lighting, rich colors and expert attention to detail to help underscore the prominence and revered echelon of the sitter. Howard was an esteemed British politician and Knight of the Garter. He served as Secretary of State for the Northern Department from 1771 to 1779, and he played a key role in utilizing mercenaries during the American Revolution and safeguarding Sweden's independence.

The portrait employs Reynolds's signature style to render Howard rightfully as a gentleman of distinction. Captured seated in a stately library, the Earl appears learned and austere as he places one hand upon a stack of important documents and looks wistfully into the distance. Reynolds makes these compositional choices decisively, as the seated position gives Howard a weighty appearance of importance and the semi-profile turn captures his countenance at an attractive angle that highlights his strong, masculine features. The work draws on the classical conventions of Greek and Roman art and the Italian Renaissance masters, anchoring the nobleman in a history of refinement. Everything from his strong yet welcoming expression to his pale face enlivened by a rush of blood to the cheeks presents the picture of a strong, vital and powerful leader.

As the first president of the Royal Academy in London, Reynolds’s commissions raised the status of an artist in Britain during the Romantic period and also established the portrait as an esteemed high art genre that garnered equal import to the history paintings that reigned supreme in decades prior. Today, Reynolds’s works grace the walls of the most important museums in the world, including the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the National Gallery in London, among others.

Circa 1770

Canvas: 50 1/2" high x 40 1/4" wide
Framed: 61" high x 52 1/2" wide x 3 1/2" deep

Provenance:
Sir Henry Howard, 12th Earl of Suffolk and 5th Earl of Berkshire, 1739-1779
His mother, Lady Mary Howard, née Finch, Lady Andover, d. 1803
Acquired by descent to her daughter, Frances, and her husband Richard Bagot (later Howard)
Acquired by descent to their daughter, Mary (1784-1877), and her husband Col. Fulke Greville Upton (later Howard), d. 1846
Acquired by descent to Lieutenant Colonel H.R.G. Howard
Sale, Christie's, London, March 24, 1961, no. 29
Julius Weitzner, London and New York
Sale, Paris, Musée Galliéra, December 7, 1965, no. 165
Newhouse Galleries, New York, NY
Mr. and Mrs. F. Howard Walsh, Fort Worth, Texas, 1966
Walsh Family Art Trust
Private collection, Oregon
M.S. Rau, New Orleans

Exhibited:
British Institution, London, 1844, no. 130, loaned by the Hon. Fulke Greville Howard.
South Kensington, "Second special exhibition of National Portraits," 1867, no. 478, lent by the Hon. Mrs. Greville.
Agnew's, London, 1903, no. 17.

Literature:
Algernon Graves and W. V. Cronin, A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A., vol. 3 (London, 1899), p. 945.
David Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds. A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings (New Haven, 2000), p. 267, no. 951, illus. fig. 1274.