TitleA Connoisseur
Artist
William Magrath
(1838 - 1918)
Date1873
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 23 × 15 in.
Framed: 26 × 18 × 2 in.
SignedSigned at lower left: "W. Magrath/-73"
SubmissionNA diploma presentation, February 5, 1877
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number820-P
Label TextWhen A Connoisseur was exhibited at the Academy in 1873, it was seen in the company of another work by Magrath, The Empty Flagon, a scene of carousing monks. Critical opinion was generally against these subjects as illustrated by a comment of the reviewer of The Nation: "These Boccaccio satires ... can be in America but attenuations of a line already exhausted with teniuty; and what chills the laugh so soon as humorous study that we know is calculated, not observed?" The critic of The Arcadian was more direct: "Mr. Magrath's 'Monk' (No. 108) is an offensive picture in every sense of the word. It is vulgar to an extreme, and utterly anredeemed by any merit of painting."Despite the vitriol expressed by the latter writer, the humor in Magrath's scene of a rotund monk contemplating the voluptuous Venus of Urbino (Uffizi Gallery, Florence) is gentle. the red umbrelle pressed in the crook of his elbow suggests that the monk is a visitor to the gallery; as a brightly-colored link to the worldly concerns of wweather and comfort, it appears mildly incongruous when held by a figure in sandals and drab, ascetic dress. Hands crossed on his belly the monk leans forward slightly in intent examination. Behind him, a full-lenght portrait of a cardinal in red and white robes "looks down" in possible disapproval. Throughout, the picture is toned to a warm sepia hue, appropriate in a painting with an "Old Master" subject.
Although he originally exhibited the work as The Monk, Magrath later sent a card to the Academy on which he referred to the painting as A Connoisseur.
