Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 16

Joseph Highmore
Portrait of Elizabeth Banks - British 18th Century art Old Master oil painting

Circa 1740

About the Item

This Beautiful British 18th century British Old Master portrait oil painting is by noted artist Joseph Highmore. Painted circa 1740 it is a half length portrait of a young woman, Elizabeth Banks. She is dressed in a mustard silk dress with a very intricate lace bodice and collar. The silk bow and pearls really stand out in her dark hair. This lovely Old Master portrait is finished off is a superb ornate gilt Kent frame and is signed. Signed centre right. Provenance: Remnants of various labels verso. Condition. Oil on canvas. Unframed size is 24 inches by 18 inches and in good condition. Frame. Housed in an original Kent frame. Framed size is 32 inches by 26 inches and in good condition. The Kent or Palladian frame style takes its name from William Kent, (1685-1748), architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer. During a tour of Northern Italy in 1714 Kent was inspired by the architecture of Andrea Palladio, in particular his palaces in Vicenza. Joseph Highmore (1692-1780) was an English portrait and historical painter, illustrator and author. Highmore was born in London, the third son of Edward Highmore, a coal merchant, and nephew of Thomas Highmore, Serjeant Painter to William III. He displayed early ability but was discouraged by his family from taking up art professionally, and began a legal training instead. At the ending of a clerkship at the age of 17 (during which he continued to attend a drawing academy run by Godfrey Kneller and lectures on anatomy by William Cheselden), he abandoned the law and started to work as a painter. On the revival of the Order of the Bath in 1725, he was selected to paint the knights in full costume. The years 1732 to 1734 were spent on a tour of the Netherlands and France. In the next few years he received patronage from the royal family, but during the 1740s began to cater more for a middle-class clients. In 1762 Highmore sold the contents of his studio and retired to Canterbury, where he lived with his daughter and son-in-law. Highmore died aged 87 on 3 March 1780. He was buried in sheep's wool (to comply with a 17th-century statute to encourage the wool trade) in the fifth bay of the south aisle of Canterbury Cathedral. His wife Susanna Highmore (née Hiller) was a poet, though little of her work was published. His son Anthony Highmore (1719–99) was an artist, one of whose 15 children, Anthony Highmore Jnr. (1758–1829), became a writer on legal affairs and a social activist. In addition to his work as a portraitist, Highmore painted works illustrating biblical subjects, historical painting being a style which Highmore had picked up on his travels in France. One such biblical painting is Hagar and Ishmael, which Highmore donated to the Foundling Hospital for the purpose of decorating its Court Room. The painting is now part of the Foundling Hospital art collection at The Foundling Museum in London. In 1744, Highmore painted a series of 12 paintings after scenes from Samuel Richardson's Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, which were engraved by Benoist and Louis Truchy. Some of them were displayed within the temporary exhibition, Basic Instincts, curated by Jacqueline Riding at The Foundling Museum from September 29, 2017 to January 7, 2018. The exhibition explored Georgian attitudes to love, desire, and female reputation through the radical paintings of Joseph Highmore. One of the most prominent paintings displayed was The Angel of Mercy (c.1746), which is thought to be a painting draft for a larger piece.
  • Creator:
    Joseph Highmore (1692 - 1780, British)
  • Creation Year:
    Circa 1740
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 32 in (81.28 cm)Width: 26 in (66.04 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    London, GB
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU853113238022
More From This SellerView All
  • Portrait of Lady in Silver Dress - Dutch Old Master art portrait oil painting
    By Willem Wissing
    Located in London, GB
    This lovely Dutch Old Master portrait oil painting is attributed to circle of Willem Wissing. Wissing settled in England and emerged as Peter Lely's most important pupil after his de...
    Category

    17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Italian Greyhound and Friends - Italian 17thC Old Master dog art oil painting
    By Francesco Fieravino
    Located in London, GB
    This stunning Old Master 17th century oil portrait painting is attributed to Francesco Fieravino, an artist famous in his day for still lifes and carpets. This painting which dates t...
    Category

    17th Century Old Masters Animal Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Portrait of a Young Gentleman - Dutch Old Master 17thC art portrait oil painting
    Located in London, GB
    This superb Dutch Old Master portrait oil painting is attributed as by a follower of Dutch 17th century artist Gerrard van Honthorst. The original of this painting hangs in Wilton House, Wiltshire, home to the 18th Earl and Countess of Pembrokeshire. The painting was previously attributed to Van Dyck by early cataloguers, but after exhaustive comparisons with the two Honthorst brothers' works, it was concluded that Gerrard van Honthorst was the artist who painted the original in Wilton House. Our painting was painted circa 1695 by a follower of Gerrard Honthorst. It was sold to us as circle of Cornelius Johnson. The sitter is Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, Earl of Holderness (1619-1682). He was an English army officer, admiral, scientist, and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalry commander during the English Civil War. Rupert was the third son of the German...
    Category

    1650s Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Lady Eleanor Dundas - Old Master 18C Scottish art oil painting female portrait
    By Henry Raeburn (circle)
    Located in London, GB
    A fine large and stunning Scottish Old Master portrait oil painting on canvas portrait in good condition which depicts Lady Eleanor Dundas in a white dress set against an open landsc...
    Category

    19th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Portrait of Major General James Hanson Salmond - British 18thC art oil painting
    By Sir Thomas Lawrence
    Located in London, GB
    This superb British Old Master oil painting is attributed to circle of Sir Thomas Lawrence. Painted circa 1795, the sitter is Major-General James Hanson Salmond (1766–1837) an office...
    Category

    1790s Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • Portrait of a Lady by Fountain in Landscape - Dutch Old Master art oil painting
    By Nicolaes Maes
    Located in London, GB
    This superb Dutch Old Master portrait oil painting is attributed to circle of Nicolaes Maes. Painted circa 1670, the painting is of a lady, sat by a classical fountain with statue an...
    Category

    1670s Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

You May Also Like
  • Portrait of a Lady, 17th Century Flemish Oil Old Masters
    By Jacob Huysmans
    Located in London, GB
    Jacob Huysmans Flemish 1633 - 1696 Portrait of a Lady Oil on canvas Image size: 49 x 40 ¼ inches Gilt frame Huysmans was born in Antwerp and came to England during the reign of Charles II where he became one of the fashionable painters of the court.. The diarist Samual Pepys noted the artist as capable of a more exact likeness than Lely. Certainly the diarist records that by August 1664 in the circle of Queen Catherine...
    Category

    17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil, Acrylic

  • English 18th century portrait of a Lady and her Daughter in an interior
    By (attributed to) Joseph Highmore
    Located in Bath, Somerset
    Portrait of a lady, three-quarter length, wearing a blue silk gown, seated in a classical interior, with her daughter in a pink gown standing beside her holding a sprig of blossom. T...
    Category

    Early 18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • English 17th century portrait of James Thynne as a young boy by a fountain
    By Johann Kerseboom
    Located in Bath, Somerset
    Portrait of the Hon. James Thynne (c. 1680-1704), full-length, in the gardens of Longleat House, seated beside a fountain, holding a shell beneath water spouting from a horn blown by a cherub on a dolphin. A glimpse of part of Longleat House can be seen upper left. Oil on canvas in a period giltwood frame, decorated with leaves and acorns. C. 1682. Dimensions: 145 x 123cm (57 x 48in) in frame Provenance: Ex Longleat House, Wiltshire Private collection, Bath James Thynne was the youngest son of Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth and Frances Finch of Longleat House, Wiltshire. He died in his youth and his Aunt, Anne Kingsmill Finch, Countess of Winchilsea (1661-1720), wrote a moving poem on his death. He was buried in the family vault at Longbridge Deverill, Wiltshire. A mezzotint of this painting by William Faithorne the Younger is held in the Royal Collection. Johann Kerseboom (d.1708) was the nephew of Frederick Kerseboom and first worked in Germany before coming to England in the 1680's where his sitters included the 'Electress Sophia Dorothea' (known from a mezzotint by William Faithorne). His early works were influenced by William Wissing...
    Category

    17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Canvas

  • Attributed to John Riley, 17th century English portrait of a girl on a terrace
    By John Riley
    Located in Bath, Somerset
    Portrait of a young girl, full-length, wearing a blue silk gown, standing on a terrace beside a classical urn holding a branch with blossom. Attributed to John Riley...
    Category

    17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Canvas

  • Large 1700's Italian Oil Painting on Canvas Portrait of a Clerical Gentleman
    Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
    Portrait of a Clerical Gentleman Italian artist, mid 18th century Circle of Giovanni Battista Carboni (1725-1790) oil on canvas, unframed canvas: 26 x 22 inches provenance: private c...
    Category

    Mid-18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Canvas

  • Deposition Atala De Roussy-trioson Paint Oil on canvas 19/20th Century French
    Located in Riva del Garda, IT
    The deposition of Atala Follower of Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson (Montargis, 1767 - Paris, 1824) 19th-20th century Oil on canvas 47 x 65 cm. - Framed 67 x 84 cm The propos...
    Category

    Late 19th Century Old Masters Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

Recently Viewed

View All