What new analysis of Joshua Reynolds’ masterpiece The Portrait of Mai tells us
The Getty Museum is conducting a thorough study of the 18th century painting ahead of its Los Angeles debut on September 14
A nearly eight foot (2.4-metre) canvas by the great 18th century English portrait painter Joshua Reynolds recently made the journey from London’s National Portrait Gallery (NPG) to the Getty Museum in Brentwood, Los Angeles, where it will make its grand West Coast debut next month.
The Portrait of Mai, which depicts a regal-looking young Tahitian man who arrived in London with Captain James Cook in 1774, was bought by the Getty two years ago in a celebrated and rare joint acquisition with NPG after the privately held painting was put up for sale by its Dublin-based owner for more than US$61 million.
The painting has received royal treatment since being unpacked at the Getty late last month. The museum’s conservation team performed a technical study that included capturing new imaging and uncovering pigments and materials used by Reynolds. The team is also confirming any alterations that may have been made to the painting over the past 250 years.
On a recent sunny Tuesday morning at the Getty – in a back room filled with other paintings, tucked into a corner of the hilltop museum – NPG’s visiting conservator Sally Higgs joins the Getty’s associate conservator of paintings, Kari Rayner, in an examination of the painting, which was first exhibited in 1776 at the Royal Academy in London.
The women peer closely at the canvas wearing headband magnifiers as they pass a small bright light across its surface to study the brushstrokes, paint and process Reynolds used to create the painting, which was made in the Grand Manner that defined the artist’s work.
“When we do these types of studies, we end up with different questions,” Rayner says. “That’s one of the things about such a condensed study period that’s been a little bit challenging.”