Attributed to Sir Joshua Reynolds

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Attributed to Sir Joshua Reynolds
1723-1792
The Infant Hannibal
Watercolor and pencil on paper.
8 3/8 x 7 1/4 inches (213 x 184 mm)
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.
III, 44
Notes: 

This drawing is related to a painted portrait of ca. 1759 by Reynolds (Mannings and Postle, #2088, present whereabouts unknown), but it is probably a copy after a related mezzotint, rather than Reynold's own study, for it has nothing in common with other drawings by the artist. The sitter is sometimes identified as a "Master Coke," perhaps Thomas William Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (1754-1842), and alternately as a "Master Cox," supposedly the son of Peter Coxe, the auctioneer.

Inscription: 

Inscribed on verso, "Reynolds The Young Hannibal".

Provenance: 
Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919), London and Florence; from whom purchased through Galerie Alexandre Imbert, Rome, in 1909 by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), New York (no mark; see Lugt 1509); his son, J. P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), New York.
Associated names: 

Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.

Bibliography: 

Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, III, 44, repr.

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