Oil on canvas, 'Robert Jones', George Henry Harlow, 1805

Oil on canvas; portrait half length, three quarter face, of a man in a wig, jaket, waistcoat and caravat.

Bequeathed by G. Harlow White

Bequeathed by G. Harlow White, 1887.

Historical Significance: George Henry Harlow began his artistic career as a student of Henry de Cort (1742-1810) and Samuel Drummond (1765?-1844). At the age of fifteen he entered the studio of the famous portrait painter Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830). Although the painter was paid a considerable sum to accept Harlow, he did not teach him formally. Instead, Lawrence allowed his pupil to assist him in the studio and copy his work. After 18 months the two fell out and Harlow was left to pursue his career independently. However, the influence of Lawrence’s style remained visible in his later work.

Immediately after the quarrel with Lawrence, Harlow was occupied mainly with portraits of artists, actors and actresses. These include a likeness of the painter Benjamin West (1738-1820; private collection). He also completed a few historical pictures, such as Bolingbroke's Entry into London (exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, 1807), although these are less successful, partly due to his lack of a proper art education. From 1804 Harlow sent works for the Royal Academy exhibitions, however he never acquired membership. Tellingly, his candidacy for associate status in 1816 received only one vote from Henry Fuseli (1741-1825), who allegedly remarked, “I voted for the talent – not for the man!”

Perhaps partly in order to make up for his art education, Harlow went to Italy in 1818. He met Byron at Palazzo Mocenigo in Venice. He also befriended the most famous Italian sculptor at the time, Antonio Canova, who expressed his admiration for Harlow’s talent. Harlow copied many paintings in Italy, including some by Tintoretto, as well as Raphael’s Transfiguration (1517–20; Pinacoteca, Vatican, Rome). He was elected to the Accademia di San Luca in Rome, and invited to submit his own portrait to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, both of which were rare honours for an English artist.

Harlow landed in Dover in January 1819 with a sore throat, which soon became more serious. He died suddenly on 4 February 1819, at the age of 32. At the time he was regarded to be at the height of his artistic possibilities. A number of artists, including Thomas Lawrence and Joseph Farington (1747-1821), expressed high appreciation of his talent after his death. It seems likely that Harlow would have counted as one of the most successful English painters of the nineteenth century, if it were not for his sudden death.

This half length portrait shows Mr Robert Jones, looking directly at the viewer. He is wearing a simple dark coat with no decoration or accessories. This follows the fashion of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century for a more modest style of men’s dress emulating that worn in the country. The dress and the hidden hands give no clues about his profession. The sitter is wearing a wig, which was largely out of fashion at the beginning of the nineteenth century, although it continued to be worn by the older generation.

This painting is dated ‘1805’ on the back, which means that it was executed when George Henry Harlow was only 18. Although exceptionally young, the painter was already an independent artist exhibiting at the Royal Academy and other prestigious venues. Portrait painting was his main activity, which provided him a steady source of income. The style of this work fits well into the nineteenth-century tendency to create portraits in simple settings with limited, often monochrome backgrounds. Harlow continues the manner of his teacher Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830). This style can be seen as opposing a previous tradition of creating portraits in poses adapted from classical statues or Old Master painting.

George Henry Harlow entered the studioe of the celebrated portrait painter Thomas Lawrence as an apprentice when he was about fifteen years old and produced this painting when he was seventeen.

454-1887