Portrait Paintings

Portrait of a young British Girl, in her white dress with Pink Sash. Choosing to acquire an 18th-century portrait of a young girl by English artist John Russell is an opportunity to...

A fine painting after George Romney of The Hon.Reverend Anchitel Grey (1774 – 1833) as a Boy The painting depicts a boy aged about ten, standing, turned to the left, gazing at the spectator, wearing a blue coat, and white linen collar, a spaniel with its paws on his chest. Shoulder length brown hair. Trees in the background on the right, distant horizon with cloudy sky on the left. The sitter was the third son of George Harry Grey, 5th Earl of Stamford (1765-1845) and Lady Henrietta Cavendish-Bentinck (died 4th June 1827), daughter of the 2nd Duke of Portland...

A beautiful late 17th century Italian Old Master oil on canvas depicting The Virgin in Adoration, circle of Carlo Maratta. Excellent quality early Italian work, presented in an ant...

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...

English School 18th Century Old Master Portrait Dated 1767. An intriguing painting dating to the mid 18th century bearing a label verso which is indistinct, but appears to read, “Mr...

Portrait of Colonel William Helyar (1621-1698) and Rachel Helyar (c.1633-1678) c.1656 Circle of Robert Walker (act. 1637-1656) These fascinating portraits, presented by Titan Fine Art, depict Colonel William Helyar, High Sheriff of Somersetshire, and his wife Rachel Helyar nee Wyndham, a daughter and co-heiress of Sir Hugh Wyndham, 1st Baronet (died 1663) of Pilsden Court, Dorset. They are exquisite examples of portraiture during the Interregnum when England was under various forms of republican government. The history of the seventeenth century is in part the story of the Stewarts and their approach to government and the church; their ebbing and flowing popularity and the disastrous decisions that led to Civil War. But another fascinating dynasty also ruled Britain: the Cromwell’s. Between 1653 and 1659, following the Civil Wars and experimental Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell governed as Lord Protector followed by his son Richard. Cromwell’s Protectorate is usually imagined as a grey, joyless, military regime. But the reality was rather different. Cromwell presided over a colourful and fashionable court where music and the arts flourished, masques were revived and the first English operas performed. Too often the London of the 1650s is painted as puritanical and repressive in contrast to the vivid, fun-loving capital of the Restoration. Yet, under Cromwell, this was the city where the first coffee houses were opening, where a young Samuel Pepys was embarking on his career as a civil servant with the patronage of one of Cromwell’s councillors and where Christopher Wren was enjoying his new Chair of astronomy at Gresham College, appointed after the personal intervention of Cromwell. When Cromwell was invested as Lord Protector for the second time in 1657, the lavish ceremony in Westminster Hall and procession through London matched any previous coronation for pageantry with thousands lining the streets, bells ringing, bonfires blazing and free French wine flowing through the city. The gentleman in our portrait is Colonel William Helyar (1621-1698), Sheriff of Somerset and as a Royalist during the English Civil War. As one of the most prominent old families of the South-West, the Helyar’s family roots in Somerset can be traced back to 1616 when the Reverend William Helyar (1559-1645), chaplain to Elizabeth I, who was also a cousin by marriage, purchased the family residence Coker Court in East Coker, Somerset. He married a Devonshire heiress and several estates were bestowed on him as a result. He was a warm supporter of Charles I in the Civil War and was in residence at Exeter in 1643 when the Parliamentarians pillaged the cathedral. Elderly as he was, he boldly resisted them, but was beaten, pelted with mud, and locked up in a ship in the port and only let out on payment of £800. He retired to Coker where he died in 1645. His eldest son Henry died in 1634 and he was succeeded by his grandson, Colonel William Helyar, the sitter in our portrait. Colonel Helyar raised a troop of horse for King Charles I and was a colonel in the king's army. He was at Exeter when it was captured by the Parliamentary forces in 1646 and thus deemed ‘Traitor to the Parliament’. His estates were sequestered, but they were returned and he was discharged and pardoned on payment of £1,522. During the Restoration he was a Sheriff and he also helped James II repel the Monmouth Rebellion. The companion portrait represents the Colonel’s wife, Rachel Helyar (baptised 24th June 1633 at St Mary Aldermanbury, London – died 1678). She was the youngest daughter and co-heir of Sir Hugh Wyndham, 1st Baronet of Pilsdon Court and Mary Wyndham nee Alanson (Sir Hugh should not be confused with his first cousin once removed from Somerset, also Sir Hugh Wyndham (bef. 1604 - 1684). Rachel is a thirteenth generation descendant of King Henry III. The couple resided at the family seat of Coker Court (interestingly, within the churchyard, lie the remains of the poet T.S. Eliot who once wrote a poem about East Coker). A marriage settlement in extant shows that the couple were married in 1656; the portraits were most likely painted to mark this important event in the sitter’s lives. Rachel holds roses, the flower of love, and the putto pouring water is representative of her purity, and possibly, the plighting of troth. Colonel Helyar wears a gold wedding band. The couple had four sons: George, William (MP) (1662-1742), John, and Richard. Colonel Helyar died in December 1697 and was buried at Whitechurch, Dorset 2 Jan 1698. This period in which this portrait was painted was known as the Protectorate (1653-1659). This period offered relative peace, as the English Civil War ended in 1651. It was an interesting time for portraiture in England and Scotland – in between the great artistic geniuses and dominance of Van Dyke and Peter Lely. Much of the foreign-born artistic talent had fled England and Scotland during the Civil War and the artists that had remained were in great demand, in part due to the newly exposed strata of society wishing to be painted. Sitters on both sides were depicted in portraits in very similar ways. They are not, on the whole, shown as the Roundheads and Cavaliers of popular history. In fact, it is usually impossible to guess their political allegiances from the style of their portrait and their Parliamentarian and royalist iconographies, as portraits on both sides followed the same conventions and looked identical. Colonel Helyar has been depicted in armour and holding a Marshal’s baton of command, confirming his status. There is a great sense of realism and a particular delicacy, note the finely rendered hand resting on the rapier. Rachel is wearing a satin dress with expansive sleeves and a crimson drapery over her shoulder and held up by her left hand. She wears large pearl...

"Caterina d'Alexandria (Saint Catherine of Alexandria)" is an original oil painting on wood panel, likely painted by Italian artist Giampietrino (Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli). The painti...

Flemish 1600s School The Card Players oil on oak panel panel dimensions 22.5 x 20 cm frame included Provenance: From a Swedish private collection. Condition: Flat and stabl...

Cherubim with flowers - Oil on canvas cm.80x100 by Giulio Di Sotto, Italy, 2002. Gold leaf gilded wooden frame available on request This wonderful oil on canvas represents two putti...

Portrait of a Noble Lady circa 1700 circle of John Closterman (German 1660-1711) oil on canvas, unframed canvas : 50 x 40 inches provenance: private collection, Somerset, England con...

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...

Fine Portrait of a lady standing in a landscape wearing a white satin dress and holding a posy of flowers. Manner of Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723) ...