Smith (J.) after Reynolds (J.) Madona col bambino 1791 {1868} NGV [PR]

Smith, John Raphael (1752-1812; English), after Reynolds, Joshua (1723-92; English)
Madona col bambino 1791
Mezzotint
Presented by E.L.Grundy, 1868
National Gallery of Victoria (p.178.10-1)

This print and Purcell after Reynolds (J.) David Garrick {by 1868} NGV [PR], also donated by Grundy, are both listed in the current NGV catalogue, with the suggestion that they may have been presented before 1868. The inscription clearly indicates the details shown here.

This print re-reads Reynolds in sentimental terms, or points to proto-Victorian tendencies in Reynolds’ own work – or both.

Refs.

PF (1868): AR 1870-71, p.35; NGV 1894, p.107 (V.Buvelot Gallery, 2^nd bay, no.28: as by Joshua Reynolds); NGV 1905, p.119 (V.Buvelot Gallery, 2^nd bay, no.14: Smith after Reynolds) 

See http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/36943/ (with reproduction; listing this work as an engraving; artists given as “unknown/S.W.Reynolds & Cousins [after]”). For Smith, see Bénézit 12, pp.1374-75

For a reproduction of the apparent source for this print, a Virgin and Child attributed to Reynolds, dated to the 1770s, see http://www.historicalportraits.com/Gallery.asp?Page=Item&ItemID=1178&Desc=Virgin-and-Child-|-Sir-Joshua-Reynolds-PRA (accessed 17 July 2020: website by Philip Mould Ltd.); however, no details of the location of this painting are provided, and further investigations will obviously need to be made