The picture broke new ground for the artist as his first notable portrait of full-length format to place a sitter in a relatively informal pose in a country setting. In this Reynolds was not only formulating an appropriate way of expressing Gell's social position as a country gentleman, as opposed to the more formal approach he had adopted for portraits of his aristocratic patrons, but also seems to have been reacting to the challenge set by the work of his contemporary and soon to be rival
Thomas Gainsborough.
E K Waterhouse considered Reynolds's portrait of Gell 'a deliberate answer to Gainsborough's William Poyntz', commenting that 'Reynolds was exceedingly sensitive to competition and was determined to beat every competitor at his own game-first
Ramsay, then Gainsborough.' More recently
Hugh Belsey argued that it was in fact Gainsborough who drew inspiration from the Gell portrait and 'it seems likely on visual evidence that Gainsborough saw Reynolds's portrait of Philip Gell painted in 1760–61. Gainsborough includes the same elements as the Gell portrait rearranging them to show his merits as a landscapist and colourist and adapting the position of the gun.'(Gainsborough owned at least sixty prints after portraits by Reynolds and was never above borrowing ideas from his rival.)
Nicholas Penny goes further in suspecting
Portrait of Philip Gell may have influenced
Pompeo Batoni who 'in the same period briefly took to painting British visitors shooting and riding in the
Campagna.' and
Karen Hearn have both argued that Van Dyck's portrait of
Alergnon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, 'inspired numerous later grand manner images, including Sir Joshua Reynolds's Philip Gell'. Susan Sloman suggests rather than Reynolds 'Gainsborough was the more intent upon painting in van Dyck's manner.' However, she accepts that Philip Gell was 'a more literal interpretation' of the Percy portrait. Interestingly, the detailed attention which Reynolds gave to Gell's portrait is reflected in the existence of a small scale whole-length study for it. This was first recorded in the collection of Ernest Duveen (brother and partner of legendary art dealer Sir
Joseph Duveen), by 1921, and was later owned by the Trustees of the Hardwicke Marriage settlement who sold it at Christie's on 7 July 1967. The portrait's hunting and shooting theme was close to Reynolds' heart. Reynolds, together with perhaps his oldest and dearest friend,
John Parker 1st Baron Boringdon, were known to relish country pursuits. The pocket books for 1770 make reference to Reynolds, on one of his late summer excursions to
Devon, going hunting and shooting with Parker at his seat of
Saltram, near
Plymouth, and making bets as to who was the better shot. Art historians have long considered Philip Gell to be one of Reynolds's masterpieces. The picture stands in a near perfect state of condition and was painted when the artist was at the height of his powers in his 'golden period' of the 1760s. The doyen of all Reynolds scholars,
E K Waterhouse, wrote: 'It was in the 1760s that Reynolds' genius came to full flower in the diversity and geniality he was able to give to his full-length portraits' [like] the Philip Gell.' == History ==