In this artwork, how is the History of the Origin elucidated?
Pinkie was first displayed at the 1795 Royal Academy summer exhibition. According to an official Huntington Library publication:Many of the finest works by the most gifted English artists of the period were large formal portraits. Although most of the pictures were commissioned by the sitter, many were also intended for public display. They made their first appearances at the annual Royal Academy exhibition, which was then the principal artistic event of the year. A somewhat grand and rhetorical air was considered appropriate for this type of painting, and this artistic intention should be kept in mind when looking at the portraits in the Huntington collection.
The painting was one of the last acquisitions of California land developer Henry E. Huntington in 1927. In 1934 the Huntington foundation constructed a new main gallery as an addition to the former residence for the collection's major portraits. Except for brief intervals during travelling exhibitions, Pinkie has hung there since that time.
Henry E. Huntington Huntington Library Royal Academy summer exhibition portrait