

Portrait of James Christie (1730 - 1803)
1778
A charming and persuasive speaker, James Christie founded the fine arts auction house in London that still bears his name. He was a close friend and neighbor of Thomas Gainsborough, who painted this portrait. Gainsborough depicted the cultivated auctioneer leaning on one of the artist's own landscape paintings and holding a piece of paper in his right hand, perhaps an auction list. Christie wears a sober brown frock suit, a white linen shirt, and a formal wig. On the little finger of his left hand is a signet ring, and two pendant seals dangle from watches worn about his waist. His dress and jewelry befit a cosmopolitan English gentleman of the 1770s.
The Portrait of James Christie hung in a place of honor at Christie's auction house in London. The auction house was a gathering place for collectors, dealers, and fashionable society. The portrait immortalized the auctioneer and perpetuated his association with Gainsborough, who was one of England's most famous portrait painters.
The Portrait of James Christie hung in a place of honor at Christie's auction house in London. The auction house was a gathering place for collectors, dealers, and fashionable society. The portrait immortalized the auctioneer and perpetuated his association with Gainsborough, who was one of England's most famous portrait painters.
- Size:
- 127.6 × 102.2 cm (50 1/4 × 40 1/4 in.)
- Medium:
- Oil on canvas
- License:
- Courtesy of The Getty
- For more:
- http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/552/thomas-gain…
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