Portrait Paintings

17th century old master painting "Silenus feasting", likely studio of Sir Anthony Van Dyck Born in Antwerp in 1599, Anthony Van Dyck entered the studio of Rubens (1577 - 1640) at the age of nineteen. Quickly, the master perceives the talents of the young prodigy and makes him his first assistant. Van Dyck, for his part, has a particular admiration for the man whose name is known throughout Europe. In 1619, he was inspired by a drunken Silenus by Rubens, produced one or two years earlier for a composition on the eponymous theme. This work, now in the Dresden Museum, appears to be the first version of our painting. That work has an illustrious provenance; it was recorded in the private collection of Leopold Wilhelm (Archduke of Austria) in 1662, in 1722 it was bought by the famous German painter Antoine Pesne for the King of Saxony in Dresden (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden - Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, inventory number 1017). From 1945 until 1955 it was on display at the Pushkin Museum in Moskou, after having been taken by Russia after the Second World War. It was then returned to the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden where it is still on display. Our painting is of a fine quality and has been painted by a skilled and confident hand. It displays some slight variations in the composition when compared to the original; the legs of Silenus are smoother and less hairy, more humanoid than satyresque. There might also be a pentimento visible at the level of the legs where one observes traces of hair on and under the material. This area can be compared to that of a canvas by Van Dyck kept in Brussels, of a still drunk Silenus whose animal legs are formally treated in the same way as the ones in our composition. Furthermore, the skirt of the figure to the far left has a purplish-red colour in our work, whereas in the first version it appears to be white. There also appear to be differences in the sky, firstly the clouds are shaped slightly different, the sky in our painting has a more vivid colour and there is also a golden hue of a sunset visible to the far left. This treatment of the background appears close to that of a Saint Rosalie, now kept at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and dated 1625, which might offer a reference for dating our painting. In the evanescent aspect, as non finito of its figures, it is interesting to compare our Silenus to a Saint Sebastian, conserved in the Escorial Museum in Madrid. Also, the theme remains rather curious. According to Barnes and Porter, Rubens, like Van Dyck after him, was partly inspired by Book XI of Ovid's Metamorphoses, but a second literary or pictorial source remains unknown (1). For the original composition, Stephan Maaser, art historian, establishes a correspondence between the position of Silenus, referring to that of a Christ at the moment of the Lamentation or the Descent from the Cross (2); the female characters on the left and the male on the right refer more to Mary Magdalene and Saint John than to the Phrygians or the members of a bacchanalian procession. Finally, note that Silenus is not usually a faun. The success of the composition at the time of its public reception and its engraving by Franciscus van der Steen really contributed to the dissemination of the work. At the same time, it testifies to the intense activity of the painter and his studio in Antwerp, before he left to work at the English court. About Silenus: In greek mythology, Silenus was the tutor and foster-father of the wine god Dionysos, who was entrusted to his care by Hermes after his birth from the thigh of Zeus. The young god was raised by Silenus and nursed by the Nysiad nymphs in a cave on Mount Nysa. Silenus was, in essence, the spirit of the treading dance of the wine-press, his name being derived from the words seiô, "to move to and fro," and lênos, "the wine-trough." Once, when Dionysos was travelling through Phrygia, Seilenos became lost and was captured by King Midas. The king treated him hospitably and as a reward Dionysos granted him his golden touch. The artists biography: Born in Antwerp on 22 March 1599, Anthony van Dyck was the seventh child of Frans van Dyck, a wealthy silk merchant, and Maria Cuypers, who was renowned for her embroidery skills. In 1609, when he was ten years old, his parents apprenticed the precocious youth to Hendrik van Balen (1575-1632), a painter of small cabinet pictures and dean of the city's Saint Luke's Guild. Although the length of Van Dyck's stay with Van Balen is not known, it probably lasted three to four years. Van Dyck registered as a master in the Antwerp Saint Luke's Guild on 11 February 1618, by which time he was already in demand as a portrait painter (see the NGA painting, Portrait of a Flemish Lady...

Venetian School of the late 16th century Workshop of Jacopo Negretti, known as Palma il Giovane (Venice 1544 - 1628) Sleeping Venus and Cupid Spied on by a Satyr Oil on canvas (49 x...

Original painting on canvas. Hand signed on front; signed and titled on verso by Jozza. Canvas is stretched. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of authenticity included....

oil on canvas 46.7 x 37.2 inches (118.5 x 94.5 cm.) PROVENANCE Private Collection, Isle of Wight Two young sisters are posed on a portico backed by a rotund column with a landscape beyond. Although their identities are unknown their outfits as well as the setting denotes wealth and status. The older sister wears a gown of gold with blue and gold trim raised to reveal a green underskirt also edged with gold. Her collar tied at the neck and fastened over her shoulders by a large rosette of golden cloth, apron and cuffs over wide sleeves, are all of a sheer batiste linen trimmed with lace. Previously a child would not have been painted in a bib or apron above the age of three, but in the 1650s and 1660s it became fashionable for older girls. A leading string hangs from her right shoulder, which is also surprising given her age, but once their utility was gone, they were viewed as a decorative accessory and remained part of children’s costumes...

Joseph Highmore (London 1692-1780 Canterbury) Portrait of a young boy holding his pet squirrel Oil on canvas Canvas Size - 30 x 25 in Provenance Sale, Sotheby's New York, Old Master...

Flemish School, 17th Century Mary Magdalene oil on copper 17th century plate dimensions 23 x 17 cm frame 27 x 22 cm Restored by professional art conservator 2022. Provenance: ...

Original acrylic painting with diamond dust on canvas. Hand signed on front; signed and titled on verso by Jozza. Canvas is stretched. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate...

Artist/ School: French School, 19th century, after the earlier work by Rembrandt Title: Self portrait of the artist Medium: oil on canvas, framed in antique gilt swept frame. Fra...

Original mixed media (acrylic paint with diamond dust) painting on canvas. Hand signed on front; hand signed and titled on verso by Jozza. Custom painted frame by Jozza. Canvas s...

PORTRAIT OF PRISCILLA, MRS WILLIAM OSBORN half length, oil on canvas, WILLIAM JACOB BAER (1860-1941) housed in the original early 19th c gilt cavetto frame The overall size being 94....

Original painting on canvas. Hand signed on front; signed and titled on verso by Jozza. Canvas is stretched. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of authenticity included....

Provenance: Cornelius Vanderbilt, New York; by whom gifted in 1880 to: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (80.3.673); deaccessioned and sold: Christie’s, New York, 12 June 19...

HENRI MILLOT PORTRAIT OF LOUISE-DOROTHÉE VON HOFFMAN Signed “h. millot” and dated 1724 on the back of the original canvas Henri Millot, French painter (Paris, active between 1699 an...

Original painting on canvas. Hand signed on front; hand signed and titled on verso by Jozza. Canvas is stretched. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of authenticity in...

Luis de Morales, called 'El Divino' (Badajoz 1509 - 1586) workshop of La Pietà with Saint John Oil on panel (82 x 65 cm /In frame 109 x 92 cm) STATE OF CONSERVATION: The panel is in good condition, with restorations and cracks clearly visible from the pictures. Gilded and lacquered wooden frame, in good condition. We present this intense Pietà executed on wood panel, the work of a painter of the late Spanish Renaissance who drew on the celebrated iconographic model created by Luis de Morales, known as El Divino (Badajoz 1509-1586), a subject reproposed by the artist and then by his flourishing workshop in numerous versions. This is an extraordinary work, in which the author demonstrates incredible realism and emotional depth in his portrayal of the Madonna and Christ, accompanied by Saint John the Evangelist. In an extremely devout Spain, Luis de Morales counts himself as one of the painters most interested in the dramatic aspects of Christ's life, from his painful Passion journey to his death. This devotional subject, the Pieta, so frequent in Christian art, is renewed in Morales' art with enormous expressive force; it is not for nothing that the artist was nicknamed the Divine, and not only for the creation of a devotional iconography in line with the spirituality of the time, but also for the intrinsic intensity of his religious paintings. The depiction, to great dramatic effect, shows Christ, immediately after being deposed from the cross, gently welcomed into the arms of the Virgin. The intense maternal compassion is also evident in the expression on her face, which, always aware of her son's fate, exudes suffering, melancholy but also serene resignation. Christ, abandoned in his mother's embrace, shows an emaciated and sorrowful face, made even more ghostly by his half-open mouth. The tree of the cross looms over the figures, emphasised by an evocative dark, completely monochrome background, to which the three figures are contrasted with strong lighting. Evident in Morales' painting is the devotional slant typical of Counter-Reformation painting, accentuated by a style that recalls both Italian painting for its research and chiaroscuro effects, and Flemish and German painting for its strongly accentuated dramatic tones. The work shows a strong physical and psychological characterisation of the characters, rendered by the marked chiaroscuro effects and the plastic construction of the figures, also using a sfumato technique, which show the primary influence of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Sebastiano del Piombo. On the other hand, his Flemish training is evident in the anatomical modelling and treatment of the folds of the Virgin's dress, which retain the sharpness of the Nordic painting tradition. We can mention, among the most beautiful versions similar to our composition: - Fig.1 Luis de Morales (c. 1520-1586), La Piedad, c. 1568, Óleo sobre tabla 72 x 50 cm.
Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao - Fig.2 Luis de Morales, La Piedad, c. 1560, Óleo sobre tabla 126 x 98 cm.
Real Academia de Bellas - Fig.3 Luis de Morales, La Piedad, 1565 - 1570, Oil on panel 42 x 30 cm.
Museo del Prado - Fig.4 Luis de Morales, Triptych of the Pietà St John and St Mary Magdalene...

Original painting on canvas. Hand signed on front; signed and titled on verso by Jozza. Canvas is stretched. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of authenticity included....

Portrait of a gentleman, workshop of Nicolas de Largilliere, circa 1690, Paris Sublime portrait of a gentleman with a palette of rich and vivid colors. He is depicted half-length, turned three-quarters, face to face. Soft and kind expression, the vivacity of the look, its calm serenity, grant an intense presence to the model. Wearing a loose wig of curly, powdered hair, this flow of vaporous curls cascades over his shoulder and enhances his face with regular features, illuminated by intense lighting and delicately nuanced by the gray tones of his emerging beard. Dressed in a shirt whose white lace collar can be seen, he wears a lapis blue velvet jacket with gold thread stripes and a moire silk lapel. Wrapped in a large red velvet coat, embroidered with silver thread, lined with brocaded yellow silk, held on his chest by a stapled leather strap. A delicate pink ribbon is passed through the collar of his shirt, the ends falling on the front like flying in the wind. Intense lighting concentrated on the figure plunges the background of the portrait into darkness. The dominant primary colors red and blue, chromatically opposed, are surprisingly harmonious and testify to the audacity of the artist who applies saturated colors to create a vibration of the material itself. The fabrics, the brushed velvet with ridges illuminated by generous serifs, the brocaded silk with a virtuoso brush, the lace and embroidery with a fine and precise design. A successful dazzle by the brilliance of the colors and a refined execution. French School circa 1690-1695 Workshop of Nicolas de Largillière (Paris, 1656-1746) Oil on canvas in oval shape H. 31.50 in, w. 24.40 in Carved and giltwood orignal frame with flower bouquets Framed dimensions: h. 41.73 in, w. 35.03 in Our work painted in the studio of Nicolas de Largillière, is marked by a learned eclecticism characteristic of this Parisian master. Inspired by the Antwerp Baroque masters Rubens and Van Dyck, the painter brings a spectacular dimension and seeks through the portrait to impress the viewer with its aesthetic and chromatic strength alone. We find his colors and this excution of baroque tradition in several portraits of this period, such as: Portrait of a gentleman, circa 1685, Chateau de Parentignat portrait of a gentleman, circa 1690, Atlanta Museum of Fine Arts portrait of a gentleman, Bemberg Foundation, Toulouse portrait of the Lord of Noirmont, National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon, Portugal Nicolas de Largilliere, born October 2, 1656 in Paris, where he died March 20, 1746, is a French painter. He is one of the most famous portrait painters of the 17th and 18th centuries. Nicolas de Largillière's long career spanned the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV, during which he established himself as a leading portrait painter. His female effigies...

After SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS (1723 -1792) Portrait of Mrs Boone and her Daughter Oil on Canvas Canvas Size : 55.25 x 43.25 inches (140 x 110 cms) Framed size : 62 x 50 inches (157.5 x 127 cms) Provenance : Private Collection, France This present picture is a good quality copy of a Reynolds original. Copies are notoriously difficult to date, but judging by the style and the materials used it is most probable that we are dealing with a picture painted between 1890 and 1920. The professional standard of the work makes this painting a fine and substantial piece of decoration in the 18th century English manner. But in this case there is more… The Reynolds original was painted around 1774-6 and depicts Harriet Boone, wife of Charles Boone with their daughter, also Harriet – later the wife of Sir William Drummond K.C. This picture was by 1865 in the collection of one T Colleton Garth (a relative of the younger Harriet Boone), who lent it to an exhibition of Old Master pictures at the British Institution in 1865. It was engraved in 1866 by G.H. Emery – presumably after attracting some attention at that exhibition. The painting was then bought from Garth by the dealers Agnew in 1903 and sold the following year in 1904 to the famous Anglo-German diamond magnate Alfred Beit. Two years later in 1906, Beit - who would fill his later years with numerous philanthropic donations in Germany, England and South Africa - gave the Reynolds original of Mrs Boone to the Berlin Gallery...

Provenance: Bradley Collection. Private Collection, Upperville, Virginia. Literature: Katlijne van der Stighelen and Hans Vlieghe, Rubens: Portraits of Unidentified and Newly Identified Sitters painted in Antwerp, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, vol. 19, pt. 3, London and Turnhout, 2021, under cat. no. 189, p. 161, and fig. 75. This painting had previously been considered to be by an anonymous Tuscan painter of the sixteenth century in the orbit of Agnolo Bronzino. While the painting does in fact demonstrate a striking formal and compositional similarity to Bronzino’s portraits—compare the nearly identical pose of Bronzino’s Portrait of a Young Man in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Fig. 1)—its style is completely foreign to Italian works of the period. That it is painted on an oak panel is further indication of its non-Italian origin. This portrait can in fact be confidently attributed to the Antwerp artist Huybrecht Beuckelaer. Huybrecht, the brother of Joachim Beuckelaer, has only recently been identified as the author of a distinct body of work formerly grouped under the name of the “Monogrammist HB.” In recent studies by Kreidl, Wolters, and Bruyn his remarkable career has been delineated: from its beginnings with Joachim in the workshop of Pieter Aertsen; to his evident travels to Italy where, it has been suggested, he came into contact with Bronzino’s paintings; to his return to Antwerp, where he seems to have assisted Anthonis Mor in painting costume in portraits; to his independent work in Antwerp (where he entered the Guild of Saint Luke in 1579); and, later to his career in England where, known as “Master Hubberd,” he was patronized by the Earl of Leicester. Our painting was recently published by Dr. Katlijne van der Stighelen and Dr. Hans Vlieghe in a volume of the Corpus Rubenianum, in which they write that the painting “has a very Italian air about it and fits convincingly within [Beuckelaer’s] oeuvre.” Stighelen and Vlieghe compare the painting with Peter Paul Ruben’s early Portrait of a Man, Possibly an Architect or Geographer in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in which the sitter holds a compass and wears a similarly styled doublet (Fig. 2). Huybrecht both outlived and travelled further afield than his brother Joachim, who made his career primarily in Antwerp. Whereas Joachim was the main artistic inheritor of their uncle and teacher, Pieter Aertson, working in similar style and format as a specialist in large-scale genre and still-life paintings, Huybrecht clearly specialized as a painter of portraits and was greatly influenced by the foreign artists and works he encountered on his travels. His peripatetic life and his distinctly individual hand undoubtedly contributed to the fact his career and artistic output have only recently been rediscovered and reconstructed. His periods abroad seem to have overlapped with the mature phase of his brother Joachim’s career, who enrolled in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke much earlier than his brother, establishing himself as an independent painter in 1560. Joachim’s activity was confined to the following decade and half, and his latest work dates from the last year of his life, 1574. Our portrait was likely produced in the late 1560s, a dating supported by the dendrochronological investigation performed by Dr. Peter Klein, which established that it is painted on an oak panel with an earliest felling date of 1558 and with a fabrication date of ca. 1566. This painting presents a portrait of an artist, almost certainly Huybrecht’s self-portrait. The young sitter is confidently posed in a striking patterned white doublet with a wide collar and an abundance of buttons. He stands with his right arm akimbo, his exaggerated hands both a trademark of Huybrecht and his brother Joachim’s art, as well as a possible reference to the “hand of the artist.” The figure peers out of the painting, interacting intimately and directly with the viewer, as we witness him posed in an interior, the tools and results of his craft visible nearby. He holds a square or ruler in his left hand, while a drawing compass...

Artist: Jack Graves III (American, 1988-) Title: "Get Off My Land II" Series: Statement *Signed by Graves lower left. It is also signed, dated, and titled on verso Year: 2023 Medium:...

Claude VIGNON (After) Tours, 1593 – Paris, 1670 Oil on canvas 60 x 45 cm (80 x 65 cm with the frame) Very good condition In the 17th century the french...

Original painting on canvas. Hand signed on front; signed and titled on verso by Jozza. Canvas is stretched. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of authenticity included....

A magnificent portrait of Henry Izod aged 67 in 1726, unsigned, but attributed verso to De Coning. Presented in a delightful frame probably the original. Th...

French School, 18th/ 19th century oil painting on canvas, unframed canvas: 24 x 19 inches provenance: private collection condition: very good and sound condition

Portrait of Princess of Bourbon as Hebe Pierre Gobert, circa 1730 Presumed portrait of Elisabeth Thérèse Alexandrine of Bourbon-Condé, Mademoiselle de Sens, depicted as the goddess Hebe kidnapped by Zeus, transformed into an eagle. 18th century French School, around 1730 Pierre Gobert (1662-1744) and workshop Oil on canvas Dimensions: canvas: h. 129 cm, w. 95cm Dimensions: framed: h. 156 cm, w. 124cm Louis XIV style giltwood and cardved wood frame Large and imposing portrait of the young princess portrayed seated on an eagle in the heavens. Seen from the front, the princess is dressed in a low-cut white chiffon dress, exposing her throat. Delicately made-up oval face, dominated by large blue-gray eyes is surrounded by powdered hair, raised, releasing the forehead and the ears, and of which some locks fall on his shoulder. A large blue scarf passed over the shoulder covers her knees and flies in the wind. A garland of flowers coming from the back goes over the knees and down again on the eagle. In her right hand she holds a golden goblet and in her left hand an ewer. The eagle supporting the young woman seizes in its claws the thunderbolt (the beam of fiery lightning), the attribute of Zeus. The figure of the young woman is enlivened by the fluidity of the antique drapes...

"Shadows Speaking to Ghosts" (2022), Chris RWK street art, aerosol art, graffiti, comics, red heart, hand lettering, drips, illustration, street artist,...

The Madonna & Child French School, 19th century presented in carved wood scrolled frame oil on canvas, framed frame: 27 x 20 inches canvas: 15.5 x 13 inches provenance: private colle...

Attributed to John Downman (1750-1824) Portrait of a young gentleman, seated beside a tree Oil on canvas Canvas Size - 30 x 25 in John Downman was a fashionable portrait painter in the second half of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth. He was born in Ruabon, North Wales, the son of Francis Downman, an attorney of Devonshire stock, and his wife Charlotte, daughter of Francis Goodsend, the private secretary to George I. In 1768 John became a pupil of Benjamin West and the following year attended the Royal Academy Schools. He showed his first portrait at the RA in 1770 and his first subject painting in 1773, exhibiting there until 1819. From 1773-4 Downman, by now married, studied in Rome in the company of Joseph Wright of Derby. By 1777 Downman was living in Cambridge, but the following year set up a studio at Bedford Street, Covent Garden. From 1779-1804 he lived at increasingly fashionable London addresses, including Bond Street, Jermyn Street and Piccadilly. Downman painted few large-scale oil portraits...

English School, 18th century oil painting on canvas, framed framed: 53 x 45 inches canvas: 48 x 40 inches provenance: private collection, England condition: overall very presentable...

Work on wood Plaster and gilded wood frame 47 x 40.5 x 6 cm

The beautiful portrait proposed, which represents a Genoese woman of high social origin and dressed in a sumptuous and elegant manner, illustrates the typical stylistic characteristics of the great Genoese portrait painter Giovanni Maria Delle Piane, called the Mulinaretto. Giovanni Maria delle Piane dit Mulinaretto (Genoa 1670 - Monticelli d´Ongina 1745), attributed Portrait of a noble Genoese nobleman Beginning of the 18th century Oil on canvas, 79 x 65 cm, In a beautiful carved and gilded wooden frame cm. 106 x 89 The noble lady displays a stern and proud expression, a smile which has just been mentioned but full of determination; the well-erected and authoritative pose is softened by the habit of the red ribbon woven in the hair, reminiscent of the brocade of clothes, according to an interpretive taste typical of Delle Piane. In the painting we appreciate the meticulous detail of the lace of the sleeves and fabrics on the neckline, the rich drapery of the dress, the contrast of colors between the golden threads of the embroidery and the iridescent red of the fabric that envelops the figure and that emerges from the the dark background. Finally, the pleasant conduction which characterizes the refined line is appreciated in the capacity to make the light glide on the clothes and the complexion of the woman. The artist, pupil of Giovanni Battista Gaulli...

Agent X has created a bright and brilliant mash-up of iconic Pop Art aesthetics and digital collage techniques. Agent X intercuts Pop art imagery with panels of poppy pattern, colour...

Artist: Jack Graves III (American, 1988-) Title: "Get Off My Land" Series: Statement *Signed by Graves lower left. It is also signed, dated, and titled on verso Year: 2023 Medium: Or...

SPRING PORTRAIT - Oil on canvas cm.30x24 by Jean Philipe Moreno, Italy 2002. Frame available on request from our workshop. Moreno’s portrait depicts a young Parisian woman, her face ...

Youth and wisdom -Ciro De Rosa Italia 2007 - Oil on canvas cm.60x50 Gold leaf gilded wooden frame cm.82x73 available on request The painting by Ciro De Rosa is characterized by light...

The Annunciation Circle of Paolo De Matteis (Piano Vetrale, 1662 - Naples, 1728) oil painting on canvas (106 x 90 cm - with frame 118 x 103 cm.) The work,...

Artist/ School: 18th/ 19th century Continental School, after Murillo Title: Figures eating Grapes Medium: signed oil painting on metal, framed. Size:...

This beautiful Italian 18th Century old masters oil painting on oval canvas with giltwood frame is attributed to Solimena and features a religious scene. In this splendid oval-shaped painting are depicted Saint Dominic...

Signed and dated, lower left: Louise Hersent/ 1823 Provenance: Private Collection, Chicago, by 1996 Private Collection, Florida This charming portrait of a young boy is the work of Louise-Marie-Jeanne Hersent, a little-known woman artist of the French Restoration often identified by her maiden name, Mauduit. While Hersent—as we will call her here following the signature on the painting—has been understudied, the known details of her life and career reveal that she held a privileged position in artistic life in the early nineteenth century in Paris. She exhibited at the Salon from 1810 until 1824, and in 1821 she married the painter Louis Hersent, a successful pupil of Jacques-Louis David who was patronized by Louis XVIII and Charles X. It is likely through her husband’s royal patronage that Hersent’s Louis XIV Visits Peter the Great was purchased for the Royal Collection in Versailles. In 1806, while still Louise Mauduit, she painted a portrait of Napoleon’s youngest sister, Pauline Bonaparte...

Ester before Ahasuerus Dutch School, 17th century circle of Rembrandt oil painting on wooden panel, unframed panel: 28 x 20 inches provenance: private collection, London condition: very good and sound condition for its age though there are old panel splits evident and minor, but stable, paint loss in those areas, as shown in the photos. The subject of ‘Ester before Ahasuerus’ was narrated by the Bible’s Book of Ester (V: 2-34). Here, the Persian King...

Edition 5 Self Portrait of Jay-C JAY-C – the pseudonym of this innovative young artist known for his subversive use of familiar figures and symbols. Using a distinct and fine British sense of humour, 
he addresses stereotypes of modern society and his work, both playful and profound, stimulates us to question conventional social conceptions. JAY-C is a barometer responding to the world around us. Having had his first solo exhibition in 2018, in the same year he did a collaboration with BoConcept on their iconic Imola chair...

Circle of Cornelius Johnson Circa 1620’s Portrait of a Officer Oil on canvas Image size: 28 x 24 inches Period style hand made frame Provenance Private European Estate This striking portrait dates to around 1620, as you can see from the images of the sash the detail is very high. The sash is decorated with gold thread and would have cost a small fortune at the time. Sashes were originally developed for a military function (making officers more visible for their men during combat), but soon became a primarily male fashion...

Artist/ School: 18/19th Century Spanish School Title :Head study of Christ Medium: oil painting on wood panel, period gilt framed panel : 6 x 5 inches Provenance: private collect...

Circle of John Riley British, (1646-1691) Portrait of a Gentleman Oil on canvas Image size: 29 inches x 24 inches Size including frame: 36 inches x 31 inch...

French painter (c. 1815) - Portrait of a gentleman, probably Napoleon in exile on the island of S. Elena. 109 x 89 cm without frame, 139.5 x 119.5 cm with frame. Oil on canvas, in ...

Artwork by the Spanish artist Juan Manuel PAJARES. street art in pure state. PAJARES, Juan Manuel (Lleida 1957 ) Pajares was introduced to the impact of large-scale canvas painting using...

Titian painter (16th century - 17th century) Titian Vecellio (1488 or 1490 - 1576) Christ as Salvator Mundi with the Madonna at Prayer Oil on panel (51 x 67 cm. - with tabernacle fr...

Portrait of an Eritrean Sibyl who writes the prophecy Circle of Lorenzo Pasinelli (Bologna 1629 - 1700) - Attributable to Giampietro Cavazzoni Zanotti ...

This portrait depicts us the trusted confidant of the Conflans d'Armentières family. More precisely, Julien Prieur was the fiscal procurator of the Marquisate of Armentières, playing the role of representative of the "public ministry", safeguarding the interests of his lord. His role, one can imagine, was crucial at the death of Michel de Conflans (in 1717) since the latter left an heir, Louis, aged only 6, and a widow, Diane Gabrielle de Jussac, whom some memoirs describe as "a very clever grande dame" . Prieur ensured the smooth running of the family's affairs and it is probably to thank him for his services that Diane Gabrielle had his portrait painted, most probably by a painter close to Jean-Baptiste Oudry. Julien Prieur appears as he is, middle-aged, with a benevolent look, in his hunting suit. Only his knotted wig links him to the nobility. Above all, he is depicted as a hunter, a passion that he shared with the Marquis of Armentières. His very young master, Louis, became a first-rate hunter, hunting in the King's entourage, in whose cabinet he died of apoplexy in January 1774. As for the his son, he was one of Louis XVI's closest hunting companions, as numerous souvenirs attest . 1. Some biographical information about the model and the commissioner While the identity of many 18th century portraits is uncertain, an old label stuck on the reverse of the canvas gives us some precise information on the identity of the model: "Mr. Julien Prieur, homme d’affaires de Mr. le Marquis d'Armentières - Commune of Brécy - Aisne". The label also suggests that it could be his son Louis Prieur living in Rocourt (probably Rocourt-Saint-Martin, a neighbouring municipality of Brécy), born on 30 September 1745, who died on 8 July 1826, but this hypothesis must be rejected in view of the model's clothing. This label probably gives us an indication on the previous owner the owner of this painting; we will see later why it seems likely that this label was affixed between 1826 and 1832. Brécy is now a municipality in the Aisne County (Hauts-de-France) located between Soissons and Château-Thierry, slightly north of the Paris-Reims axis. It borders the municipalities of Armentières-sur-Ourcq and Rocourt-Saint-Martin. According to Louis Prieur's death certificate, he was in fact born in 1743 and not in 1745 . The age of the model in the painting and the dating of this painting would indicate that Julien Prieur, was probably born at the very end of the 17th century. In Louise-Marthe de Conflans-Coigny, chatelaine de Brécy , we read that "the Conflans were a family of ancient nobility, which genealogists trace back to the 12th century, when it was said to have come from the house of Brienne. In the 16th and 17th centuries, this family had several illustrations in the profession of arms. [...] Michel de Conflans, [...] belonged to a younger branch of the family, of which Saint-Simon wrote, with his acid soaked pen, that "poor and obscure, they had never left their village, where their house resembled a hut" and elsewhere that they "lived on their rifles and cabbages". Fortunately for Michel de Conflans, the last representative of the elder branch, Henriette d'Armentières, made him her heir on her death in 1712. It was through her that the land of Armentières and its 14th century castle became part of the estate of this branch, as well as, not far from there, the land of Brécy and the castle of Le Buisson, where the family lived. In the early years of the 18th century, Michel de Conflans was able to push himself into the entourage of the Duke of Orleans, becoming his first gentleman of the chamber. However it was above all his son Louis who restored the family status through his military career. Born on 23 February 1711, Louis de Conflans, Marquis d'Armentières died of apoplexy on 18 January 1774, in the King's cabinet at Versailles. Appointed lieutenant general in 1746, he received his Marshal of France’s stick in 1768. The Dictionary of French Biography writes of him that "without ever achieving a high command, he appeared with honour in all the wars of his time". The estates of Armentières and Le Buisson were sequestered during the French Revolution, declared national property and sold at auction (in 1794 and 1795 respectively) after the Marquise d'Armentières, the Marshal's second wife, was beheaded in 1794. The Château du Buisson (where Michel de Conflans died in 1717) was bought by a granddaughter of the Marshal de Conflans, the Marquise de Coigny, in 1816 and remained in her family after her death in 1832 until the sale of the 1,054 hectares estate in 1866. The bayonet blows that probably pierced the canvas in three places may well have a revolutionary origin and it is conceivable that the painting, acquired by the Marquise de Coigny from Louis Prieur, Julien's son, after the latter's death, was then restored and given the label specifying the name of the model. 2. Description of the portrait The painting presents a man in his thirties in his hunting costume. Pictured at mid-body, his face is marked by his life in the open air and characterised by a look of great bonhomie. Holding a rifle under his elbow, he is soberly dressed in a large caramel-coloured jacket, decorated with silver buttons. Presented in a three-quarter view, the model holds a partridge in his right hand. The jacket opens onto a vermilion waistcoat. A green shoulder strap probably holds a powder flask hidden under his arm while a satchel is visible on his belt. The model is wearing a grey wig, tied at the back with a black ribbon that seems to fly in the wind. This ornament anchors Julien Prieur in his time. "The new King of France, Louis XV, [imposed] a style of smaller wigs for men and the rigorous white or preferably greyish powdering. From the middle of the century men also used a ponytail on the back of the neck, tied with a ribbon, a style that became very popular in all courts." He stands out against a dark, purplish sky at the end of an autumn day in a soberly sketched forest landscape. The treatment of the sky recalls the influence of Largillière, Oudry's first master. 3. Jean-Baptiste Oudry Jean-Baptiste Oudry was born on 17 March 1686 in Paris, rue de la Ferronnerie. He began his apprenticeship around 1705-1707 with Nicolas de Largillière, with whom he stayed for five years. In 1713 Oudry established his "livre de raison" in which he reproduced all his early works in wash drawings up until 1718. During this first period which lasted about 7 years, Oudry produced works of great diversity, both in the genres that the artist tackled and in the artists which influenced him. It has been estimated that he painted about 150 pictures during this period: mainly portraits, but also still lifes and some religious paintings and landscapes. Of the hundred or so portraits that Oudry is said to have painted during this period, only fifteen have been identified today. A number of those lost portraits are probably still confused with works by Largillière. First admitted to the Académie de Saint-Luc in 1708, he was then allowed to join the Académie Royale in 1717, and subsequently admitted as a history painter in 1719. This year marks a turning point from which Oudry will assert himself as an animal painter. In 1723 he met Louis Fagon, Intendant of Finances, and the Marquis de Beringhen, the King's first equerry, who became both friends and patrons of the artist, giving him access to royal commissions and enabling him to be appointed as painter of the Royal Tapestry Factory of Beauvais in 1726. From 1728 onwards, the creation of tapestries became the core of his work, even though at the same time Oudry developed his skill as an illustrator, first for Scarron's Roman Comique and then for La Fontaine’s Fables. Between 1726 and 1731, Oudry created the decoration of a large drawing room at the château de Condé-en-Brie, about twenty kilometres from Brécy, which has remained in place to this day. This important commission, about which few details are known, is said to have originated with the Countess de Verrüe, a great lady of the French Regency who often stayed at Condé with her friend Jean-François Leriget, Marquis de la Faye, then owner of Condé. A prolific artist, Oudry fulfilled numerous commissions in parallel with his regular contributions to the Salons, to which he regularly took part until 1753. He suffered a stroke in 1754 and died the following year. It seems almost certain, in view of the importance of his work, that Oudry supervised a workshop in which several artists were involved, but this point is very poorly documented. Given the geographical proximity of Brécy and Condé-en-Brie, the links between the Armentières family and the Condé patrons, and finally based upon the quality of our portrait, we propose the hypothesis that it was painted by one of the painters who worked with Oudry at Condé. 4. Related artworks: comparison with some other portraits of hunters by Jean-Baptiste Oudry While Oudry gradually abandoned portraiture from 1720 onwards to devote himself to animal paintings, he seems to have made an exception for hunter portraits, which were often depicted in the company of their hunting dogs. Two examples seem particularly evocative and suggest a dating for our painting around 1730. We will see in a second part why this dating proposal seems relevant. The first portrait worth mentioning is the presumed portrait of Lieutenant Claude-André Courtin de Crouey, lord of Quatre Fils and Cormeilles-en-Parisis made in 1723, reproduced below. Also presented in a very tight frame, it is interesting for the similarities in the representation of the rifle, and in particular the two metal rivets that are almost identical in our painting. The painting that seems closest to ours is the presumed portrait of Monsieur...

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18th century Bust portrait of a gentleman in a blue coat with gold buttons (Said to be Edmund Hoyle, inventor of Whist) circle of James Latham. Housed in a gilt frame the size overall is 71 x 84 cm (28 x 33 inches approx) whilst the painting is 56 x 69 cm ( 22 x 27 inches approx) The overall condition is very good having had some restoration. The painting has been relined, cleaned and re varnished. There has been some strengthening/overpainting. There is a Rectangular patch repair along lower edge, centre, reverse approximately 5 x 7cm with associated retouching to front,all essentially done sympathetically. some fine stable craquelure throughout. Some minor self coloured losses to frame. None of the above detracting from a very attractive portrait. Edmond Hoyle Edmond Hoyle English card game authority, "the Father of whist" Born 1672 England Died 29 August 1769 (aged 96–97) London, England Edmond Hoyle (1672 – 29 August 1769)[1] was a writer best known for his works on the rules and play of card games. The phrase "according to Hoyle" came into the language as a reflection of his generally perceived authority on the subject James Latham James Latham was born in Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland and possibly related to the family of Lathams of Meldrum and Ballysheehan. After some practice of his art, Latham studied for an academic year in Antwerp (1724–25) where he became a Master of the Guild of St Luke. He returned to Dublin by 1725, and may have visited England in the 1740s, as the influence of Joseph Highmore, as well as Charles Jervas and William Hogarth, is evident in his work of this period. Anthony Pasquin memorably dubbed Latham "Ireland's Van Dyck". Latham died in Dublin on 26 January 1747. Several of James Latham's portraits are in the National Gallery of Ireland collection in Dublin; one is of the famous MP Charles Tottenham (1694–1758) of New Ross, Co. Wexford, "Tottenham in his Boots" (Cat. No.411) and a second is a portrait of Bishop...

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