Master Hare

The portrait of Master Hare is an oil on canvas completed in 1788 by Joshua Reynolds, who at this time was very much at the pinnacle of his career.

Master Hare was the elder son of Georgiana Shipley an amateur painter and her writer husband Francis Hare Naylor. Lady Jones, the wife of the painter William Jones was the aunt of master Hare who later adopted Master Hare commissioned the painting from Reynolds. This picture of the young child dressed in the typical flamboyant dress of an affluent family soon proved to be immensely popular among the public and critics alike. From the innocent and natural pose of this child captured by Reynolds in a truly masterful manner the child is instantly recognised and identified by any parent of the day or indeed in the present age.

The rosy and endearing complexion of this young child with his immaculate ringlets in his hair highlighted and framed by the sky and the overhanging trees in the background, display a sense of the harmony of nature and the innocence of youth. With the plush material of the child's belt juxtaposition with the child's top that has slipped down from his shoulder reminding us that despite all the trappings of evident wealth this is still a young boy that is full of fun and mischief. Although he is clearly pointing at something, we do not know what it is as the subject is not displayed within the frame, but his youthful inquisitiveness is clear.

There have been many paintings of children from artists such as Gainsborough usually in a larger format with a more obviously posed standing position, however Reynolds style allows a more natural fresh ambiance that allows us to not only admire the beauty of the subject but also take in the miracle that is a young child hence embodying the move towards enlightenment that society was experiencing during this period. The painting auctioned in 2015 achieved a price of 233 000 USD and is now on display and at the Musée du Louvre, Paris being recognized as one of Reynolds best works and an important picture of the British Art movement.