| TITLE
| The Girl Reading; portrait of Theophila Palmer |
| CREATOR | unknown |
| DATE | 1771-1863 |
| DIMENSIONS | 38 x 31 in. |
| ORIGINAL FORMAT | Painting |
| MEDIUM | Oil on canvas |
| PHYSICAL NOTE | Likely a copy of the original by Sir Joshua Reynolds, this portrait, known as The Girl Reading, is of Reynold’s beloved niece, Theophila |
| DONOR | Estate of Alpheus Billings |
| DATE OF ACCESSION | 1863 |
| LOCATION | Providence Athenæum: Philbrick Rare Book Room |
This portrait is likely a copy of the original work by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Reynolds was one of the most sought after and influential portraitists of the eighteenth century in Britain. In this portrait of his sister’s daughter, Theophila Palmer, Reynolds pays tribute to his beloved niece. Theophila lived with Reynolds in London from the age of thirteen until her marriage at twenty-four years old. In 1771, when the original painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London, Horace Walpole wrote in his catalog that the portrait was “charming.”
Ethelbert R. Billings, Esq. of Providence, Rhode Island, gifted this painting and several others to the Athenæum in 1863, having acquired it from his deceased brother, Alpheus Billings and his partner Mr. Cadman of London.
Lancaster, Jane.
Inquire Within: A Social History of the Providence Athenæum Since 1753. Providence Athenæum, 2003, pp. IV, 86, 89.
"The Girl Reading."
The Providence Athenæum, 2019,
www.providenceathenaeum.org/collections/art-collection/painting/. Accessed 28 June 2019.
Bowman, Ceara. “A Girl Reading.” 2016. ARTH 401: Cataloguing Curiosity, Wheaton College, student paper.Leonard, Grace Fisher.
The Providence Athenæum: A Brief History. Providence, Privately Printed, 1939.