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Notes

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A handwritten label adhered on stretcher verso specifies Gainsborough as the artist and Dr William Hunter as the sitter. However, there is no record that Gainsborough ever painted Hunter, and this is not in his style. Likewise, the sitter's clothing here dates from about 1770, when Hunter was in his 50s, and this painting does not show a man of that age. It does show, half-length, a gentleman in his thirties, facing right holding an anatomy book open at a picture of a skeleton. The artist and sitter remain the subject of research.

Science Museum

London

Title

Portrait of Unknown Medical Gentleman (previously Dr William Hunter)

Date

about 1770

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 77 x W 65 cm

Accession number

1978-335

Acquisition method

purchased at Phillips, 1978

Work type

Painting

Science Museum

Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, Greater London SW7 2DD England

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Artist or maker

unknown artist

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