Portrait of James Bourdieu

The Spanish royal collection is full of Titian and Rubens and holds almost no English painting at all. The reason is political. For two centuries Spain and Britain were usually at war or on the edge of it, and what was painted in London did not travel to Madrid. The Prado's British holdings still come to only about 30 pictures, nearly all of them acquired in the 20th century. This one arrived in October 1954, the gift of two New York dealers, Frederick Mont and Bertram Newhouse. Reynolds kept appointment books, so the canvas is dated more precisely than the man in it is known. Bourdieu sat in October 1765 and the portrait was finished in January 1766. About his life the museum's file says nothing. He sits with his legs crossed and looks up from the letter in his hand.