Art UK has updated its cookies policy. By using this website you are agreeing to the use of cookies. To find out more read our updated Use of Cookies policy and our updated Privacy policy.

Henry Thomas

Image credit: Pallant House Gallery, Chichester

How you can use this image

This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).

Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.

The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

During the 1920s Philpot was a highly successful figure in the British art establishment, celebrated for his portraits of society figures that included the likes of the Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, the Duchess of Westminster, the opera singer Dame Nellie Melba, the ballet dancers Vaslav Nijinsky and Lydia Lopokova and the author Siegfried Sassoon. However, he also had a strong sensibility for the social outsider. This powerful portrait is of his West Indian manservant Henry Thomas, who had come from Jamaica as a stoker on a merchant vessel and missed his boat home. He was subsequently 'discovered' wandering in the National Gallery by Philpot's godson, the scenographer Oliver Messel, and introduced to the artist in 1929, presumably because of his good looks rather than his reliability and domestic skills which were, by all accounts, limited.

Pallant House Gallery

Chichester

Title

Henry Thomas

Date

1934–1935

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 52.5 x W 36.4 cm

Accession number

CHCPH 0705

Acquisition method

bequeathed by Mrs R. Newgas

Work type

Painting

Inscription description

G.P.

Tags

See a tag that’s incorrect or offensive? Challenge it and notify Art UK.

Help improve Art UK. Tag artworks and verify existing tags by joining the Tagger community.

Normally on display at

Pallant House Gallery

9 North Pallant, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 1TJ England

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.
View venue