Background Image
Table of Contents Table of Contents
Previous Page  156 / 323 Next Page
Information
Show Menu
Previous Page 156 / 323 Next Page
Page Background 244 NATHANIEL HONE RA (1718-1784)

A mother and child seated in an elegant draped interior, a landscape showing to the left

Oil on canvas 127 x 102cm

€ 20,000 - 30,000

Nathaniel Hone R.A. was born in Dublin in April 1718, the third son of Rebeckah and Nathaniel Hone, a

merchant. As a young man he plied his trade as an itinerant portrait painter in England picking up com-

missions wherever he could. In 1742 he had the good fortune to marry Mary Earle who, Strickland tells us

was ‘a lady possessed of some property.’

Hone lived for a time in London before heading to Italy for the purpose of study. He was in Rome in 1750

and in Florence in 1752 when he was made a member of the Florentine Academy. That same year he

returned to England and settled in London again, quickly establishing a reputation as a portrait painter in

oils but also in miniature. He was an original member of the Royal Academy which was founded in 1769

and continued to exhibit there until 1784, showing a total of sixty nine works. His jealousy of, and turbu-

lent relationship with RA President, Sir Joshua Reynolds is well documented and indeed his truculence

cast a long shadow over his remaining years. He died in London on August 14, 1784.

Hone was as adept at painting men and women as he was at the characterisation of children and it was

in this idiom that he is perhaps rightly regarded as peerless. His originality is most apparent in the well-

known portraits of children where they are shown in engaging poses, cuddling pets or playing musical

instruments. In the present work, typical of the fashionable English portraits of the day, a small child is

held by it’s mother and is holding a small wooden pipe. It displays immense charm and conveys a happy

relationship between mother and child and in the relaxed pose little formality is conveyed. There is an

element of theatricality, which Hone enjoyed, in the positioning of the sitters against a dark curtain. The

view beyond to a pastoral landscape provides light and adds further charm.