{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O124993"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O124993/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BH7690/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BH7690/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BH7690","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JV8053","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O124993/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O124993","accessionNumber":"DYCE.18","objectType":"Oil painting","titles":[{"title":"Entrance to Mr Thrale's Park, Streatham","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"An oil sketch of the entrance to Mr Thrale's Park, Streatham.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Reynolds, Joshua","id":"A8778"},"association":{"text":"painter (artist)","id":"AAT25136"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"oil paint","id":"AAT15050"},{"text":"canvas","id":"AAT14078"}],"techniques":[{"text":"oil painting","id":"AAT178684"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Oil on canvas","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"}],"styles":[{"text":"British School","id":"x30967"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006BH7690","2017JV8053"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"B","id":"THES304813"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"oil paintings","id":"AAT33799"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"late 18th century","earliest":"1750-01-01","latest":"1800-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"10.75","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"approx.","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"15.5","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"approx.","note":""},{"dimension":"","value":"","unit":"","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Measurement taken at time of assessment prior to BH decant - Frame Dimensions (mm): H-360 W-485 D-35;\nPainting Dimensions (mm): not measured"}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from <i>Summary catalogue of British Paintings</i>, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Bequeathed to the Department of Science and Art, South Kensington Museums in 1859 by the Reverand Alexander Dyce. The painting was bequeathed as part of the Dyce collection of 3347 works of art, including paintings, miniatures, watercolours and prints as well as his library of 14,000 volumes. \r\n\r\nReverend Alexander Dyce (1798-1869), literary scholar and art collector, was the son of a major, later lieutenant general in the Madras infantry of the East India Company. Raised by two maternal aunts in Aberdeen following his parent's departure for India in 1799, Dyce read classics at Exeter College, Oxford. At his father's insistence he was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1823, having rejected a career in the East India Company. He developed a career in publishing by translating Greek texts. However he is probably best known for his editions of sixteenth and seventeenth century poetry. Dyce collected many rare books covering English, Italian and Classical literature. His collection of paintings and works on paper is very varied.  In his collection of paintings, Dyce indulged his enthusiasm for the theatre, acquiring portraits of leading actors, while his drawings collection focuses on Old Master drawings from European schools. The Dyce bequest was one of the earliest of a collection of fine art given to the museum. It followed the Sheepshanks collection, which was given to the museum two years earlier in 1857. While the Sheepshanks collection was mainly of contemporary Victorian art, Dyce's collection focused on British eighteenth and early nineteenth art as well as paintings from Italian, Dutch and Flemish Schools. This bequest therefore helped to broaden the collection, which the museum was already beginning to do by purchasing works from British and Continental Schools.\n\nHistorical significance: Sir Joshua Reynolds (1732-1792) was as a painter and first president of the Royal Academy (founded 1768). He was apprenticed in 1740 to the fashionable London portrait painter Thomas Hudson (1701-1779). From 1744 Reynolds began working in both London and Devon. He travelled to Italy with Augustus Keppel. Reynolds stayed mainly in Rome, studying the antique sculpture and old and modern masters there. These works would provide prototypes for his works for the rest of his career. By 1753 Reynolds had returned to London where his portrait of <i>Keppel</i> established his career. From 1769 in his lectures at the RA Reynolds developed his theory of the \"Grand Manner\", encouraging artists to learn from past examples of art and to work on morally elevating subjects. These ideas had been expressed by earlier artists however Reynolds was the first to deliver them in a clear synthesis. Although Reynolds encouraged artists to paint more highly regarded genres of paintings, ideally History, he remained a portrait painter. During the 1770s he developed within this genre \"Fancy Pictures\" creating sentimental representations of children. In 1784 he succeeded the artist Allan Ramsay (1713-1784) as portrait painter to King George III (1738-1820).\r\n\r\nSir Joshua Reynolds (1732-1792) worked predominantly as a portrait painter and was the first president of the Royal Academy (founded 1768). He was apprenticed in 1740 to the fashionable London portrait painter Thomas Hudson (1701-1779). From 1744 Reynolds began working in both London and Devon. He travelled to Italy with Augustus Keppel in n1750. Reynolds stayed mainly in Rome, studying the antique sculpture and old and modern masters there. These works would provide prototypes for his works for the rest of his career. By 1753 Reynolds had returned to London where his portrait of <i>Keppel</i> established his career. From 1769 in his lectures at the Royal Academy Reynolds developed his theory of the \"Grand Manner\", encouraging artists to learn from past examples of art and to work on morally elevating subjects. These ideas had been expressed by earlier artists however Reynolds was the first to deliver them in a clear synthesis. Although Reynolds encouraged artists to paint more highly regarded genres of paintings, ideally History, he remained a portrait painter. During the 1770s he developed within this genre \"Fancy Pictures\" creating sentimental representations of children. In 1784 he succeeded the artist Allan Ramsay (1713-1784) as portrait painter to King George III (1738-1820).\r\n\r\nThis landscape shows the grounds of Streatham Park, situated in the south of present day London. It probably dates to the 1770s and 1780s when Reynolds was visiting the Thrales who then owned Streatham Park. The subject of the painting reflects the close friendship Reynolds had with the Thrales and his frequent visits to their house at Streatham and its surrounds. Reynolds made his career as an artist through painting portraits and not many landscapes survive by him. A note on the object file compares this painting with two landscapes catalogued as by Reynolds in the Lady Lever Art Gallery (See <u>A Record of the Collections in the Lady Lever Art Gallery Port Sunlight</u>, volume I, plates 37 and 38, 1928).The dimensions of this painting and the loose style suggest that it was not painted for a commission but probably as a sketch for the artist's own pleasure. \r\n\r\nDuring the 1770s and 1780s Streatham Park became the country retreat for members of Henry Thrale's (1724-1730) artistic and intellectual circle. As well as Sir Joshua Reynolds, this circle included contemporaries such as the intellect Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), the actor David Garrick (1717-1779), the musician and writer Charles Bumey (1726-1814) and the barrister Robert Chambers (1737-1803). During the 1770s, Henry Thrale commissioned Reynolds to paint bust length portraits of the key visitors to Streatham Park, the last of which was that of Oliver Goldsmith, painted in 1781. These portraits were displayed high on the walls above the bookshelves following the display of portraits in the Reading Room at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The novelist and diarist Fanny Bumey (1752-1840), daughter of Charles Bumey and close friend for Mrs. Thrale named this group of paintings the \"Streatham Worthies\", a reference to the celebrated <i>Temple of British Worthies</i> at Stowe.\r\n\r\nThis is one of three paintings by Reynolds that entered the South Kensington Museums as part of the Alexander Dyce bequest in 1859. The other works by Reynolds from the Dyce collection are <i>Portrait of a Lady, said to be Miss Reynolds</i> (Dyce 17) and portrait of the political essayist <i> Caleb Whiteford</i> (Dyce.68). While demonstrating the variety of his oeuvre, from landscape to portrait, these works are all related to the intimate circle of Reynold’s friends, represented by works linked to the Thrales and Caleb Whiteford (1734-1810) and his family.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Oil Painting, 'Entrance to Mr Thrale's park, Streatham', Sir Joshua Reynolds, late 18th century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>A Record of the Collections in the Lady Lever Art Gallery Port Sunlight</u>, volume I, plates 37 and 38, 1928"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Streatham","id":"x37497"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"landscapes","id":"x31544"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["DYCE.18"],"accessionNumberNum":"18","accessionNumberPrefix":"DYCE","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-19","recordCreationDate":"2006-06-08","availableToBook":true}}