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Two young boys sit side by side on some boulders with a cloudy sky behind them and dark tree branches above in this vertical portrait painting. The boys both have pale skin with flushed, round cheeks, short, light brown hair, and brown eyes. They wear matching russet-brown suits with rows of gold-colored buttons on their chests and white ruffles that pop out of their collars, white stockings, and black, laced up shoes. The boy on our right looks at us with his right hand on the other boy’s shoulder. That second boy sits on a lower rock and looks up at the first while draping one arm over the first boy’s lap. The second boy holds a plum-purple and powder-blue hat in one hand and a stick with a rope attached, perhaps a whip, in the other. Another hat lies on a boulder under the rope. A few crisp sage-green, deep yellow, and brown leaves have fallen to the ground at the boys' feet. The tree above and distant landscape beyond are loosely painted in hazy tones of yellow, smoky green, brown, and slate blue.

Sir Henry Raeburn

The Binning Children, probably c. 1811

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 128.8 x 102.7 cm (50 11/16 x 40 7/16 in.)

framed: 154.3 x 128.9 cm (60 3/4 x 50 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Given in memory of John Woodruff Simpson

Accession Number

1942.5.2

Artists / Makers

Sir Henry Raeburn (artist) Scottish, 1756 - 1823

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

Painted for the sitters' father, David Monro Binning [1776-1843], Argaty and Softlaw, Perthshire, Scotland; by inheritance to the elder son in the picture, George Home Monro Binning Home [1804-1884], Argaty; by inheritance to his grand-nephew, Dr. George Home Monro-Home [b. 1865], Argaty; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 3 May 1902, no. 97); (Thos. Agnew & Sons, London);[1] sold 1902 to (M. Knoedler & Co., London);[2] purchased by John Woodruff Simpson [1850-1920], New York; by inheritance to his wife, Mrs. John W. Simpson [née Katherine Seney, d. 1943], New York; gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] See Colin Agnew's letter of 26 April 1965 to Marcia Early (in NGA curatorial files), and annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Knoedler Library British Sales microfiche.

[2] M. Knoedler & Co. stock books, recorded by The Getty Provenance Index.

Associated Names

Agnew & Sons, Ltd., Thomas
Binning, David Monro
Binning-Home, George Home Monro
Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd.
Knoedler & Company, M.
Monro-Home, George Home
Simpson, John W., Mrs.
Simpson, John Woodruff

Exhibition History

1811: Possibly Associated Society of Artists, Edinburgh, 1811, no. 187, as A Portrait of Two Boys.

1912: Loan Exhibition of Old Masters for the Benefit of the Artists' Fund and Artists' Aid Societies, M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1912, unnumbered catalogue, repro., as The Sons of David Monro Binning.

Technical Summary

The medium-weight canvas is twill woven; it has been lined. The ground is white, of moderate thickness. The painting is executed thinly, with smoothly blended brushwork in the heads and costume, fluid and sketchy brushwork in the hands, collars, and background, and low impasto in the highlights. The paint surface is slightly abraded, increasing the transparency in some of the darks and the sky, and has been severely flattened during lining. There is scattered retouching. The thick natural resin varnish has discolored yellow to a significant degree.

Bibliography

1901: Armstrong, Sir Walter. Sir Henry Raeburn. London, 1901: 96, repro. opp. 68.

1911: Greig, James. Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A.: His Life and His Works. London, 1911: 38.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 106.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 94, repro.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 278, repro.

1975: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: no. 526, color repro.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 368, no.518, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 322, repro.

1992: Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 204-205, repro. 204.