Portrait of Jonathan Richardson, Jr., the artist's son

Portrait of Jonathan Richardson, Jr., the artist's son

Jonathan Richardson Sr.

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Richardson was a leading British portraitist who also wrote on connoisseurship and formed an important collection of Old Master drawings. He rarely made preparatory studies for paintings but, in his fifties, began regularly to portray himself and his son in works that suggest an appreciation for drawing as an aesthetic pursuit. Once retired from painting, Richardson continued to make such works daily. This example dates to 1729, when the artist was sixty-four and his subject thirty-eight. Rendered close to life size, the sitter is dressed informally, and his somber features have been described using red, white, and black chalk, with a middle tone established by the paper. The original blue of the sheet has survived in remarkably fine condition.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Portrait of Jonathan Richardson, Jr., the artist's sonPortrait of Jonathan Richardson, Jr., the artist's sonPortrait of Jonathan Richardson, Jr., the artist's sonPortrait of Jonathan Richardson, Jr., the artist's sonPortrait of Jonathan Richardson, Jr., the artist's son

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.