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Commissioned by Joseph Nollekens (1737-1823), the sitter, possibly from David Allan (1744–1796), the artist; purchased at auction by Francis Douce (1757-1834) at Christie’s, London, July 5, 1823 (lot 136, ‘Portrait of Mr Nollekins modelling his Figure of a Faun, painted at Rome’ unattributed), in “A Catalogue of the Whole of Highly Valuable Collection of Antique and Modern Sculpture, of the late Joseph Nollekens, Esq., R.A., Dec.,” [1] [a]; by bequest to Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick (1783-1848) [2] [b], of Goodrich Court, Goodrich, Herefordshire, England ; by descent to his second-cousin, William Henry Meyrick (1790-1865) [c] of Goodrich Court, Goodrich, Herefordshire, England; probably by descent to his son Lieutenant Colonel Augustus William Henry Meyrick (later Lieutenant-General, 1826-1902) [d]; …; acquired by John Lane (1854-1925) by 1917 [3] [e]; sold at auction at Messrs. Jackson Stops, London, July 7, 1923 (lot 995, ‘portrait of J. Nollekens working in a statuette nearly full length’), in “The entire contents of 8 Lancaster Gate Terrace, London W.2, including collections of great interest to Art Connoisseurs and Men of Letters”;...; possibly purchased at auction by “Bennison” at Sotheby’s, London, June 16, 1954 (lot 100, ‘John Flaxman’ by Nathaniel Dance) in “Modern and Eighteenth Century Paintings and Drawings” [4] [f];...; acquired by Sidney Sabin (1907-2001) by 1964 [g]; purchased by Paul Mellon (1907-1999), 1964 [h]; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1981.

Notes:
[1] In the article “Testaments of Friendship; Two New Portraits by James Barry of Francis Douce and Joseph Nollekens”, David Blayney Brown notes that the British Library possesses a marked catalog of this sale, in which Francis Douce is listed as the buyer of the portrait. The work is listed as “Portrait of Mr Nollekins modelling his Figure of a Faun, painted at Rome” in A Catalogue of the Whole of the Highly Valuable Collection of Antique and Modern Sculpture of the late Joseph Nollekens, Esq., R.A., Dec., Christie’s, London, July 3-5, 1823. Previously, this work was attributed to the painter Mary Moser, whose name appears in the catalog for the lot directly preceding the Portrait of Mr Nollekins. In place of an artist’s name, the catalog simply gives a dash next to the work. Elsewhere in the catalog however the author uses the phrase “ditto” to indicate when a second lot is attributed to the same artist as the preceding one.

[2] Samuel Meyrick, in his catalog of the Douce collection, presented as the “Doucean Museum” at his estate at Goodrich Castle, lists the work as “Portrait of Joseph Nollekins the celebrated sculptor; painted by his friend James Barry just after his marriage; small, but three-quarters length, 1771.” Barry (1741-1806) first studied art in his native Cork with the landscape painter John Butts. With the assistance of Edmund Burke, Barry traveled to Italy, remaining in Rome for five years. He then moved to London and in 1782 he was made a professor at the Royal Academy, but was soon dismissed because of his antagonistic temperament. Nollekins with good friends with both Barry and Mary Moser. See Samuel R. Meyrick, K.H. “Paintings in the Doucean Museum”The Gentleman’s Magazine, March 1836: 253. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Gentleman_s_Magazine_and_Historical_Revi/SGIdAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=nollekens

[3] John Lane was a publisher and collector of art, notably British portraiture.The portrait of Nollekens was in his possession by at least 1917, where it appears as the frontispiece to the reprint of John Thomas Smith’s Nollekens and His Time, titled ‘Joseph Nollekens Modelling a Faun.’ A note below attributes the work to Mary Moser, and indicates the painting belongs to John Lane, who was also the publisher of this edition.

[4] According to J. H. Plumb, the portrait of Nollekens was mislabeled in the Sotheby’s catalog of June 16, 1954, “Modern and Eighteenth Century Paintings and Drawings”, as John Flaxman by Nathaniel Dance (lot 100). See J.H. Plumb, The pursuit of happiness : a view of life in Georgian England : an exhibition selected from the Paul Mellon collection, (New Haven: Yale Center for British Art, 1977): 47.

Citations:
[a] Christie’s, London, July 5, 1823. A Catalogue of the Whole of Highly Valuable Collection of Antique and Modern Sculpture, of the late Joseph Nollekens, Esq., R.A., Dec. https://archive.org/details/catalogueofwhole00chri_1/page/18/mode/2up
[b] The Bodleian Library, The Douce legacy : an exhibition to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the bequest of Francis Douce (1757-1834). (Oxford: The Bodleian Library, 1984), p. xi
[c] Ibid, p. 16.
[d] Ibid.
[e] John Thomas Smith, Nollekens and His Times (London: John Lane the Bodley Head, 1917) https://hdl.handle.net/2027/gri.ark:/13960/t85j0jw9p
[f] Sotheby’s, London, June 16, 1954. Modern and Eighteenth Century Paintings and Drawings. https://www.worldcat.org/title/1164631198?oclcNum=1164631198
[g] J. H. Plumb, The pursuit of happiness : a view of life in Georgian England : an exhibition selected from the Paul Mellon collection, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1977, pp. 47, 101, no. 78; also see the work’s verso as well for a label for Sabin Galleries.
[h] J. H. Plumb, The pursuit of happiness : a view of life in Georgian England : an exhibition selected from the Paul Mellon collection, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1977, pp. 47, 101, no. 78