Framed oil painting: David Garrick as Sir John Brute in ‘The Provok’d Wife’ by Sir John Vanbrugh, Johan Zoffany (1733–1810), oil on canvas c.1763
Key information
Museum number
2010.2.5
Object
Framed oil painting: David Garrick as Sir John Brute in ‘The Provok’d Wife’ by Sir John Vanbrugh, Johan Zoffany (1733–1810), oil on canvas c.1763
Gallery label
David Garrick as Sir John Brute in ‘The Provok’d Wife'
Johan Zoffany (1733–1810)
Oil on canvas, about 1763
In John Vanbrugh’s comedy, Sir John Brute steals a set of his wife’s clothes from a tailor after a drunken evening with his friends. He has put them on, and is now resisting arrest.
As well as being a great actor, Garrick was a brilliant self-publicist. Artists were inspired by his extraordinary stage presence, although his expressive features were notoriously hard to capture. For this painting, which hung in his dining room, he asked Zoffany to alter the head, which is painted on a separate piece of canvas.
2010.2.5
The Somerset Maugham Collection, transferred from the National Theatre
Johan Zoffany (1733–1810)
Oil on canvas, about 1763
In John Vanbrugh’s comedy, Sir John Brute steals a set of his wife’s clothes from a tailor after a drunken evening with his friends. He has put them on, and is now resisting arrest.
As well as being a great actor, Garrick was a brilliant self-publicist. Artists were inspired by his extraordinary stage presence, although his expressive features were notoriously hard to capture. For this painting, which hung in his dining room, he asked Zoffany to alter the head, which is painted on a separate piece of canvas.
2010.2.5
The Somerset Maugham Collection, transferred from the National Theatre
On display?
Yes
