Lot 53: Strickland Lowry , 1737 - circa 1785 Trompe l'oeil with an engraving of the self portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds's oil on canvas

oil on canvas

measurements note 75 by 58 cm., 29 1/2 by 22 3/4 in.

In Ireland's Painters 1600-1940, 2002, p. 170 Anne Crookshank and the Knight of Glin mention four trompe-l'oeil paintings generally considered to be the work of Strickland Lowry. Two examples depicting engravings pinned to boards are at the National Gallery of Ireland, one is entitled Lowry and one shows a print of Hone's The Spartan Boy. A similar trompe l'oeil, also including an engraving, is at the Hunt Museum, Limerick and a further example includes an engraving after the portrait of the Duke of Leinster by Reynolds (Private Collection). The present picture is certainly by the same hand and includes a print based on Reynolds's Self Portrait of c. 1766 which was engraved by James Watson in 1770. Lowry appears to have worked in Ireland between 1762 and 1782 though with constant trips to England.