| Portrait of James Christie | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Thomas Gainsborough |
| Year | 1778 |
| Type | Oil on canvas, portrait painting |
| Dimensions | 126 cm× 101.9 cm(50 in× 40.1 in) |
| Location | Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
'Portrait of James Christie is a 1778 portrait painting by the British artist Thomas Gainsborough. It depicts the Scottish auctioneer James Christie, the founder of the London auction house Christie's. [1]
A fashionable Society portraitist, Gainsborough had moved from Bath to London in 1774 and lived by Schomberg House close to Christie's auction house on Pall Mall. He depicts Christie in fashionable dress of the era and leaning on the frame of a large landscape painting likely to be one of Gainsborough's own. [2] It was one of twelve paintings that Gainsborough submitted to the Royal Academy 's Summer Exhibition that year. [3]
The work hung for many years at Christie's premises. The painting was acquired by John Paul Getty and is now in the collection of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. [4]
