Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 6

Charles Philips
Portrait of a King's Messenger, 18th Century English Artist, Original Frame

About the Item

Charles Philips 1703 - 1747 Portrait of a King's Messenger Oil on canvas Image size: 35 ¾ x 28 inches Original gilt frame King's Messenger The job of a King's Messenger was that of a diplomatic courier, hand-carrying important and secret documents around the world. Some say that the history of the sovereigns' messengers goes back to 1199, but the first known messenger was John Norman, who in 1485 earned 4d (1½ pence) per day for carrying the state papers of Richard III. The silver greyhound on the messenger's badge dates back to Charles II. In 1660, during his exile at Breda, Netherlands, Charles II issued a declaration of amnesty to all those who had opposed him and his father. He used messengers to make his intentions known. In answer to the messenger's question "How will they know me?", Charles reached forward to a silver bowl on the table in front of him. This bowl, with four decorative greyhounds standing proud above the rim, was well known to all courtiers. Charles broke off a greyhound and gave it to the messenger as a guarantee that the message came from him. From that date, the King's Messenger always wore a silver greyhound around his neck. Later, dating from George II or III, a badge with the Royal Arms in enamel, with the greyhound suspended beneath, was worn. A George III example of the King's Messenger Badge, pre 1800, sold for over £30,000 pounds some years ago. The silver greyhounds were minted for each new reign, except the brief one of King Edward VIII. The sovereign's messengers were originally controlled by the Lord Chamberlain, being Messengers of the Great Chamber. When the Foreign Office was created in 1782, the messengers remained common to the three Secretaries of State. Charles Philips was an English artist known for painting a number of portraits and conversation pieces for noble and Royal patrons in the mid-eighteenth century. Philips was baptised in the combined parish of St Mildred, Poultry with St Mary Colechurch. He was the son of Richard Philips, also a portraitist. He married Mary Francis in 1737 and moved to Great Queen Street shortly afterwards. Philips died in London in 1747 only six years after his father. As the son of a portraitist, Philips likely learnt the trade from his father. He was primarily a painter of small portraits and conversation pieces. George Vertue notes that 'in painting small figure portraits & conversations [which] has met with great encouragement amongst People of Fashion—even some of ye Royal Family'. In 1732 he painted conversation works for the Duchess of Portland and the Duke of Somerset. Throughout the 1730s these conversation pieces increased in complexity with the subjects becoming more numerous and engaging in more varied activities. Following the example set by fellow painters of small scale conversation pieces such as Philippe Mercier and William Hogarth, Philips moved into the more lucrative field of portrait painting in the latter part of the decade. In 1737 he reached the height of his career when he painted the Prince and Princess of Wales in a pair of full-length portraits. The Prince of Wales was a well known patron of the arts and especially of immigrant artists. This included Jacopo Amigoni and Mercier, principal influences on Philips. Two of Philips' paintings, now in the Royal Collection, describe fashionable London clubs of which there are no other records. The first, dated 1732, shows Frederick, Prince of Wales with members of 'La Table Ronde', and once hung at Carlton House. The painting casts the Prince as a new King Arthur, with his knights seated around the round table. The other painting, notes in a description of 1813 that "Frederick Prince of Wales Established a Club — Called the Gang or Harry The Fifth’s Club — the members of which were Call’d Fallstaffs Points — Bardolph &c", apparently alluding to Shakespeare's portrayal of Henry V and his rowdy entourage. The known body of his work can be dated entirely to the 1730s, with little known of his later life or any later work. The last known portrait painted by Philips dates from 1740. It is not known why Philips's output apparently ended abruptly.
  • Creator:
    Charles Philips (1707 - 1742, American)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 35.75 in (90.81 cm)Width: 28 in (71.12 cm)
  • More Editions & Sizes:
    1 of 1Price: $49,633
  • Medium:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    London, GB
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU5243158941

More From This Seller

View All
John the Baptist
By Francesco Curradi
Located in London, GB
Oil on canvas Image size: 17 x 21 inches (43 x 53 cm) 18th Century Carlotta frame Provenance Private Country Estate When depicting John the Baptist artists often added an outer ga...
Category

17th Century Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Una
Located in London, GB
Richard Waller 1811 - 1882 Una Oil on canvas, signed lower right and dated 1879 Image size: 23 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches (59.5 x 49.5 cm) Original frame Una is one of the main characters in the first book of Edmund Spenser...
Category

19th Century Victorian Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

After Hours
Located in London, GB
Oil on canvas on board, signed lower left Image size: 14 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches (36.5 x 44.5 cm) Hand made frame In this atmospheric scene a drunk is walking home, he must be causing some noise as another person is leaning out of his window to the right looking at him. The artist has captured old London beautifully with the old bins, advertising on the walls and the cats bemused by the drunken figure. It sometimes takes an outsider such as Sancha to appreciate the beauty of the scene. Francisco Sancha Lengo Self portrait in London Francisco Sancha y Lengo was born in Malaga in 1874. He attended the School of Fine Arts there and studied under Joaquín Martínez de la Vega, the eccentric, influential teacher that baptised a young Picasso with champagne. Such an education served him well, and by 1897 Sancha was studying at the Royal Academy in Madrid under José Moreno Carbonero...
Category

Early 20th Century Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas, Board

Portrait of Miss Tonks, Signed and dated 19th Century Oil
Located in London, GB
Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right 1882 Image size: 36 x 29 inches (92 x 74 cm) Gilt Watts frame LITERATURE The Life and Work of Frank Holl, Ada ...
Category

19th Century Victorian Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Portrait of a Girl with Book, 18th Century Regency Oil Painting
Located in London, GB
Oil on canvas Image size: 28 3/4 x 24 inches (73 x 61 cm) Contemporary style gilt frame This portrait is an evocative example of Devis' Regency period portraiture, featuring a pleasant looking young girl holding a book in an outdoor setting. Working with a darker palette, a strongly accented diagonal recession, and dramatic contrasts of light and shadow, Devis heightens the girl's three-dimensional physical presence in the foreground of the composition. The Artist  Arthur William Devis (10 August 1762 – 11 February 1822) was an English painter of history paintings and portraits. He painted portraits and historical subjects, sixty-five of which he exhibited (1779–1821) at the Royal Academy. Among his more famous works are a depiction of the Death of Nelson and a posthumous portrait of Nelson. Devis was born in London, the nineteenth child of the artist Arthur Devis and his wife Elizabeth Faulkner. Devis was the younger brother of the painter Thomas Anthony Devis (1757–1810) and of the schoolmistress and grammarian Ellin Devis (1746–1820), teacher, among others, of author of Maria Edgeworth and Frances Burney (later novelist Madame d'Arblay). He followed his elder brother Thomas Anthony in becoming a pupil at the Royal Academy Schools in 1774 and like his brother exhibited at the Free Society of Artists, of which in 1768 their father had become president, and at the Royal Academy. Early on he came to the notice of Sir Joshua Reynolds. He was appointed draughtsman on the British East India Company's packet Antelope in a voyage in 1783, under Captain Henry Wilson. In her he was injured in an encounter with Papuans near the Schouten Islands and was then wrecked on the Pelew Islands before proceeding to Canton and thence to Bengal. During his voyages, the artist received arrow wounds, one of which inflicted permanent injury on his lower jaw. During his time in Bengal, he painted a portrait of Sir William Jones, at the time a judge in Fort William. The painting now hangs at the British Library. He was back in London by 1795 and is recorded on 21 July 1797 as living at 27 George Street, Hanover Square, where he was insured by the Sun Assurance Office. He is noted for his involvement in the creation of the posthumous cult of Horatio Nelson. As she returned from Trafalgar, Devis went out to meet HMS Victory and was present on board the ship during the autopsy of Nelson's body conducted by Dr Beatty, the ship's surgeon. With the help of sketches he took at that time, he painted a heroic Death of Nelson, which proved a sensation. Devis also painted Dr Beatty, and was commissioned by him to produce a half-length painting of Nelson as vice-admiral, which he lent to Emma Hamilton (who later lost it in an accident whilst travelling). Either the original or a copy of this portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy two years after the Battle and many copies were made of it. Lord Howe owned one, and another ended up in the collection of the National Maritime Museum. It also appeared as an engraving in Beatty's published account of Nelson's death. Other work includes a portrait of King George III on horseback, and a range of portraits of admirals and generals, along with historical subjects, such as the Babington Plot and the signing of the Magna Carta...
Category

18th Century Victorian Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Portrait of John Hoppner
By Sir John Hoppner
Located in London, GB
After Sir John Hoppner 1758 - 1810 Self Portrait Oil on canvas Image size: 18 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches (47 x 55 cm) Original gilt Carlotta frame This wonderful painting is after John Ho...
Category

Mid-19th Century Naturalistic Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

You May Also Like

Lolita Oil Painting on Canvas Portrait Surrealism Surreel In Stock
By Caroline Westerhout
Located in Utrecht, NL
Lolita Oil Painting on Canvas Portrait Surrealism Surreel In Stock Caroline Westerhout (Weert, 1970) studied Reproduction Drawing at the Graphic Lyceum in Eindhoven. After her studi...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The Illusion of Progress
By Katherine Fraser
Located in Philadelphia, PA
"The Illusion of Progress" is a 59in x 79in original oil painting by Katherine Fraser in a handmade wood frame. "Life often strikes me as a string of moments, like a series of film ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Street By Bruno Paoli - Figurative Painting
Located in Carmel, CA
Certificate of authenticity and artist catalogue are included. Bruno Paoli (1915-2005) Teaching the masters helped create this contemporary master. Bruno was a professor of art in F...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

To Lollia By Bruno Paoli - Figurative Painting
Located in Carmel, CA
Certificate of authenticity and artist catalogue are included. Bruno Paoli (1915-2005) Teaching the masters helped create this contemporary master. Bruno was a professor of art in F...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Street By Bruno Paoli - Figurative Painting
Located in Carmel, CA
Certificate of authenticity and artist catalogue are included. Bruno Paoli (1915-2005) Teaching the masters helped create this contemporary master. Bruno was a professor of art in F...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Florence in Pearl Grey By Bruno Paoli - Figurative Painting
Located in Carmel, CA
Certificate of authenticity and artist catalogue are included. Bruno Paoli (1915-2005) Teaching the masters helped create this contemporary master. Bruno was a professor of art in F...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Recently Viewed

View All