Mr and Mrs William Hallett

Mr and Mrs William Hallett is a 1785 oil on canvas painting by the British painter Thomas Gainsborough. It is popularly known as The Morning Walk and is now in the collection of the National Gallery in London (NG 6209).

Mr and Mrs William Hallett
The Morning Walk
ArtistThomas Gainsborough
Year1785
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions236.2 cm × 179.1 cm (93.0 in × 70.5 in)
LocationNational Gallery, London

History

Gainsborough painted the work in the summer of 1785, shortly before the marriage of the subjects, WIlliam Hallett (1764-1842) and Elizabeth Stephen (1763/4-1833) then both aged 21. After Mrs Hallett's death the painting was offered for sale at Foster's in 1834, though it remained unsold. Later the ownership was disputed. In April 1884 it was sold from the Hilliard collection to Agnew's who sold it on, eight days later, to Sir N. M. Rothschild (later Lord Rothschild). The painting was acquired for the National Gallery in 1954, from the collection of Lord Rothschild, for £30,000, the Art Fund providing a grant of £5000 towards the purchase price.[1]

On 18 March 2017, the painting was attacked by a man with a sharp object.[2][3] The painting received two scratches of about 1-metre and 65cm long in the incident.[4] After 10 days of restoration, the painting went back on display.[5]

Influence
Sir Christopher and Lady Sykes by George Romney

Gainsborough's composition was the inspiration for George Romney's portrait of Sir Christopher and Lady Sykes, known as The Evening Walk.[6]

References
  1. Fund, Art. "Mr and Mrs William Hallett (The Morning Walk) by Thomas Gainsborough".
  2. Alice Ross (19 March 2017). "Man charged over attack on Gainsborough painting at National Gallery | UK news". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  3. Shea, Christopher D. (20 March 2017). "Gainsborough Painting Is Attacked at National Gallery in London" – via NYTimes.com.
  4. The Guardian
  5. The Guardian
  6. Erika Langmuir (2006). Imagining Childhood. Yale University Press. p. 231. ISBN 0-300-10131-7.

Media related to The Morning Walk (Gainsborough) at Wikimedia Commons


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