WILLIAM RUSSELL BIRCH (BRITISH, 1755-1834) AFTER SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, P.R.A. (BRITISH, 1723-1792)

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WILLIAM RUSSELL BIRCH (BRITISH, 1755-1834) AFTER SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, P.R.A. (BRITISH, 1723-1792)
Venus, partially nude, in white drapery with blue ribbon ties, her right arm covering part of her face, reclining on a grassy bank while winged Cupid unties the ribbon around her waist; curtain and landscape background with a snake at lower right corner
signed and dated 'W Birch from Sir J R 1784' (lower left)
enamel on copper
rectangular, 2½ x 2.15/16 in. (63 x 74 mm.), gilt-metal mount

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Emma Durkin

edurkin@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2609

Lot Essay

The present lot is after the full-scale oil on canvas painting entitled A Nymph and Cupid: 'The Snake in the Grass' by Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A. exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1784 (no. 177), and now in the Tate collection (inv. no. N00885). The model for Venus was probably Emma Hart, later the wife of Sir William Hamilton (the British ambassador to Naples) and mistress of Admiral Lord Nelson. In 1788, Reynolds reproduced this work for Lord Carysfort, changing the title to Cupid Untying the Zone of Venus. It is now in the collection of The Hermitage.

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