Portrait of a Young Boy Carrying a Fruit Basket

This is a charming 18th century portrait of a young boy, sporting a golden child’s two-piece with a floppy white collar. The boy stands before a dark blank background holding a small basket that is full of different fruits. The fresh faced young sitter is pictured half length within an oval cartouche. There is lovely detail and brushwork in his facial features and vibrant colouring. He wears the traditional costume of aristocratic young gentlemen of the period, including a dramatic ice blue sash that is wrapped around his waist.

Thomas Beach

Born in Milton Abbas, Dorset in 1738, Beach became a pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1760 and about the same time enlisted as a student in the St.Martin’s Lane Academy. On leaving his master he established himself in Bath, where he gained employment and repute as a portrait painter. From Bath he sent portraits to the exhibitions of the Incorporated Society of Artists (1772-83) whose President he became in 1783. He first began exhibiting at the Royal Academy in 1785, contributing portraits yearly up to 1797 and appears to have maintained a presence in both London and Bath for the greater part of his career.

As with his master Reynolds his associations with his sitters was not necessarily confined to the professional side, being known to have entertained in Bath in 1781 with a musical gathering at his house. Here fine society mingled, with his portraits adorning the walls, all lit to advantage: ‘A fine light and shade being thrown upon the paintings, everyone found himself surrounded, as if by magic, by a number of his acquaintances, breathing in canvass…’ (Horace Walpole). No doubt Beach hoped that in such a beguiling atmosphere further introductions and commissions might be forthcoming. Certainly, a wealthy landowner and M.P. such as Peyton would have frequented regularly both Bath and London and it seems likely that this portrait was undertaken during the Bath season, which ran from October until the following May. Peyton’s wife had previously been painted by Gainsborough about ten years previously but by the early 1780s Beach was really the only portrait painter of note working in the city; the aging William Hoare effectively retired and the likes of Gainsborough, Wright of Derby and Robert Edge Pine having already departed, with the young Thomas Lawrence just starting to make a reputation with his pastels.

Works by Beach are to be found in many important collections including the National Portrait Gallery, London, the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle and the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.