Portrait of a Clergyman

Joshua Reynolds started keeping pocket diaries of his sitters in 1755, and in 1758 he entered 150 of them. At the height of the London season five or six people a day climbed his stairs, an hour each. This clergyman is one of that crowd, painted somewhere between 1756 and 1760, and nobody recorded his name. What identifies him is his dress. The powdered wig, the black gown and the two white linen bands at the throat are those of a minister of the Church of England, and the heavy book is held where the light can reach it. The Prado's own note calls this an early work, without the spectacle of his later manner. The painted oval around him was standard studio furniture for a head and shoulders. The canvas came to Madrid late, bought by the Spanish state from the marques de San Miguel in 1943, and when it was registered the entry simply read portrait of a reverend.