Philip Richard Morris 1865

Eugene de Blaas painted this oil-on-canvas portrait of Philip Richard Morris, a British painter of genre scenes and portraits, in the late 19th century. Morris's slightly disheveled appearance, especially his beard and loose tie, position him as a member of a new class of professional artists. During this time, the rise of art schools and academies formalized artistic training, leading to an expanding art market. The National Portrait Gallery, where this painting hangs, also emerged during this time as a crucial institution in visualizing British identity through images of its most important public figures. This portrait is a visual document of the changing status of the artist in British society. Art historians consult exhibition reviews, artists’ biographies, and institutional records to understand how artists negotiated this evolving professional landscape, and how their self-representation, as seen here, was a crucial aspect of that negotiation.