Anne (Walker) King

Maker James Northcote (British, 1746-1831)

SitterSitter: Anne (Walker) King (British, 1713 - 1794)

Collections

British Paintings

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Date1789

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionscanvas: 29 3/4 × 24 1/2 in. (75.6 × 62.2 cm.) frame: 37 × 31 1/4 × 3 in. (94 × 79.4 × 7.6 cm.)

SignedSigned and dated: Northcote f. 1789

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Label TextAnne Walker was born in 1713, the daughter and co-heir of John Walker of Hungerhill. On December 26, 1744 she married the Very Rev. James King (c.1715-1795), D.D., son of Alice Seargeantson and Thomas King (d.1727) of Skellands, Yorkshire. Her husband had a distinguished clerical career. In 1750 he became curate at Clitheroe, Lancashire, and he also served as chaplain to the House of Commons and as canon of Windsor. On October 25, 1776 he became dean of Raphoe in Ireland. Anne King's five sons also achieved distinction in diverse fields. Little is known of the sitter's own life, however. She died in 1794, a year before her husband.

Anne King sat to Northcote at the age of seventy-six, just five years before her death. The artist made little apparent attempt to soften her rather harsh features, faithfully noting the sagging eyelids and red circles beneath her eyes, the frowning corners of her thin lips, and the loose flesh of her double chin. However, the strength of Northcote's characterization allows us to look beyond the obvious signs of physical decay and to glimpse the vital spirit that animated his sitter. She appears to assess the viewer with a shrewd gaze, fixing us with a stare that is disarmingly direct and steady, and that conveys an impression of keen intelligence. Northcote applied the paint in an equally bold and direct fashion, allowing the white highlights, red carnations, and flesh-color to lie side by side with minimal blending. The rugged handling of the flesh and the uncompromising approach to the elderly woman's features suggest the influence of the Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69), as do several other aspects of the painting, such as the warm illumination of the sitter against a dark background and the nearly monochromatic color scheme.

Anne King's attire would have given her a slightly old-fashioned appearance in 1789; it closely resembles the ensemble in which Thomas Gainsborough painted his wife Margaret eleven years earlier. King wears a black lace and net cloak (capuchin) with the hood lowered to reveal a muslin mob cap with scallop edging, tied in a bow beneath her chin. This filigree frame to her face is reinforced by numerous other decorative flourishes, such as the striped ribbons of gold and brown ornamenting the top of her cap and the complementary ribbon (striped in yellow and white) tied in a bow beneath her bosom. The feminine accents help to soften the severe cast of her features, although they are carried out in the same brisk, painterly style that characterizes the flesh painting. King's cloak and gloved hands indicate that she is dressed for outdoors, a circumstance that reinforces the overall impression of vitality.

Joshua Reynolds was a friend of Anne King's husband, and had painted his portrait eight years earlier, in December 1781 (National Gallery of Australia, Canberra). It was perhaps through Reynolds that the Kings met James Northcote, who had been Reynolds's pupil and resident assistant from 1771 to 1775. Northcote reportedly became a friend of the family and in 1802 painted one of the sons, his near-contemporary, Edward King (Christie's 31 March 1967 [155]). The present painting, which remained in the family's possession until it was acquired by The Huntington, is still in its original frame.

Status

Not on view

Object number62.84