After Richard Jack, The Toast

Richard Jack RA (1866-1952) was born in Sunderland and trained at the York School of Art, the Royal College of Art and the Académie Julian. He was elected ARA in 1914 and a full Academician in 1920. In 1916 he became Canada’s first official war artist, and he later settled in Montreal.

The Toast, painted in 1913, is one of his largest and best-known pictures. The guests at a candlelit dinner rise with their glasses towards a young woman seated alone at the left. A crystal chandelier hangs over a table crowded with silver, cut glass, shaded candles and flowers. The figures wear the dress of an earlier century.

Colour offset print on card, unframed. Titled in script below the image ‘“The Toast” by Richard Jack, R.A.’, with the credit ‘Copyright of the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery’ at lower left.