JOSHUA REYNOLDS

A Portrait of Richard Robinson

London, 1779

Oil on canvas

142.3 x 114.5 cm

The Englishman Richard Robinson (1709-1794) was made Archbishop of Armagh in 1765, so when this portrait was painted he was Primate of Ireland. He is dressed in the appropriate clerical garb of the day: wig, hat, dark-grey coat, and black waistband over an ‘apron’. The portrait was commissioned to hang at Robinson’s newly-built house, Rokeby Hall in County Louth. It is one of four versions and is a replica of a work exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1775. It was at this annual exhibition that Reynolds established his reputation as the leading portraitist of the day.

Purchased 1943 (No.43.9)