1775
oil
canvas
From the collection of National Gallery of Ireland
Dominant colour
The Conjuror is a 1775 oil by Nathaniel Hone the Elder, a Rococo painting work, held at National Gallery of Ireland.
This painting, "The Conjuror," depicts an older man with curly hair, dressed in a red robe with fur trim, holding a wand in his right hand. He sits next to a young girl, who leans on his arm, looking up at him. The background is dark, with various objects scattered around, including papers with images on them. The man's expression is serious, and the girl looks curious. The overall atmosphere is one of quiet contemplation, with the man's wand and the papers suggesting a sense of magic or illusion. If you're interested in learning more about this style of painting, you might want to explore the technique of chiaroscuro, which is known for its use of strong contrasts between light and dark to create a sense of volume and depth.
The Conjuror is a 1775 oil painting by the Irish artist Nathaniel Hone the Elder. An allegory, it depicts a conjuror or alchemist casting a series of paintings by Old Masters into a fire and drawing a print from them. A bearded magician, he is seated with a young girl leaning against his knee. In the background is St Paul's Cathedral. Hone submitted the work for the Royal Academy's Annual Exhibition for 1775. Although it was initially accepted by the committee, it attracted controversy when the Swiss artist Angelica Kauffman, one of the female founding members of the academy, protested that…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Source: wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Nathaniel Hone (24 April 1718 – 14 August 1784) was an Irish-born portrait and miniature painter, and one of the founder members of the Royal Academy in 1768.
See the richer artist page
