Jacopo Bassano

16th Century Italian Renaissance Old Master Portrait of a Procuratore

circa 1550

John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich (13 November 1718 – 30 April 1792) Attributed to George Knapton (1698-1778) Dressed in the Turkish manner, stand...

The pendant to the present portrait showing John Pitcairn's wife Jean, née Robertson, is in the Huntington Art Gallery, San Marino. Both works are datable to the 1790s. Pitcairn, who served as Provost of Dundee from 1782-84, a position his father-in-law also held from 1731-32, later sat to Raeburn for another portrait, dated to circa 1820, which is now in the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh Sale of Christie's London: Wednesday, July 9, 2014 [Lot 00212] Old Master & British Paintings Day Sale Sold For 22,500 GBP Premium Provenance By descent from the sitter to his great-grandson, Ronald Andrew Pitcairn of Pitcullo; Christie's, London, 25 June 1904, lot 58 (200 gns. to Wallis). Alexander Reid, Glasgow. With Agnew's, London, where acquired by A.R. Wilson Wood, 7 April 1909; Christie's, London, 26 June 1914, lot 78 (850 gns. to Agnew). Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 24 November 1972, lot 27 (320 gns.) Private collection, Dublin, Ireland Exhibition Edinburgh, Royal Scottish Academy, 1876, no. 256 Literature W. Armstrong, Sir Henry Raeburn, London, 1901, p. 110. J. Greig, Sir Henry Raeburn, R.A., His life and work with a catalogue of his pictures, London, 1911, p. 55. R. Asleson and S.M. Bennett, British Paintings at The Huntington, New Haven and London, 2001, p. 312, fig. 12 Sir Henry Raeburn FRSE RA RSA (4 March 1756 – 8 July 1823) was a Scottish portrait painter and Scotland's first significant portrait painter since the Union to remain based in Scotland. He served as Portrait Painter to King George IV in Scotland. Raeburn was born the son of a manufacturer in Stockbridge, on the Water of Leith: a former village now within the city of Edinburgh. He had an older brother, born in 1744, called William Raeburn. His ancestors were believed to have been soldiers, and may have taken the name "Raeburn" from a hill farm in Annandale, held by Sir Walter Scott's family. Orphaned, he was supported by William and placed in Heriot's Hospital, where he received an education. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to the goldsmith James Gilliland of Edinburgh, and various pieces of jewellery, mourning rings and the like, adorned with minute drawings on ivory by his hand, still exist. Soon he took to the production of carefully finished portrait miniatures; meeting with success and patronage, he extended his practice to oil painting, at which he was self-taught. Gilliland watched the progress of his pupil with interest, and introduced him to David Martin, who had been the favourite assistant of Allan Ramsay the Latter, and was now the leading portrait painter in Edinburgh. Raeburn was especially aided by the loan of portraits to copy. Soon he had gained sufficient skill to make him decide to devote himself exclusively to painting. George Chalmers (1776; Dunfermline Town Hall) is his earliest known portrait. In his early twenties, Raeburn was asked to paint the portrait of a young lady he had noticed when he was sketching from nature in the fields. Ann was the daughter of Peter Edgar of Bridgelands, and widow of Count James Leslie of Deanhaugh. Fascinated by the handsome and intellectual young artist, she became his wife within a month, bringing him an ample fortune. The acquisition of wealth did not affect his enthusiasm or his industry, but spurred him on to acquire a thorough knowledge of his craft. It was usual for artists to visit Italy, and Raeburn set off with his wife. In London he was kindly received by Sir Joshua Reynolds, the president of the Royal Academy, who advised him on what to study in Rome, especially recommending the works of Michelangelo, and gave Raeburn letters of introduction for Italy. In Rome he met his fellow Scot Gavin Hamilton, Pompeo Girolamo Batoni and Byers, an antique dealer whose advice proved particularly useful, especially the recommendation that "he should never copy an object from memory, but, from the principal figure to the minutest accessory, have it placed before him." After two years of study in Italy he returned to Edinburgh in 1787, and began a successful career as a portrait painter. In that year he executed a seated portrait of the second Lord President Dundas. Examples of his earlier portraiture include a bust of Mrs Johnstone of Baldovie and a three-quarter-length of Dr James Hutton...

Gerard SOEST (1600 - 1681) Portrait of a Young Boy oil on canvas 35.5 x 30.5 inches inc. frame Gerard Soest (circa 1600 – 11 February 1681), also known as Gerald Soest, was a portra...

Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland (1750-1811) was an English portrait painter and one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768. Justly celebrated in his lifetime he won several...

Portrait of Princess de Joinville riding a Bay Horse Henri d’Aincy, Le Comte Monpezat (French 1817-1859) Painted circa 1837-9 oil on canvas 113 x 92 inches (including frame) 92 x 70 inches (unframed) Provenance – from a private royal collection This magnificent portrait depicts Princess de Joinville, the daughter of Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil and the King of Portugal. Through her illustrious family she was directly related Alexander III and Nicholas II of Russia and the Russian royal family, as well as to many of the great ruling families of Europe. The work clearly confirms Monpezat as one of the most accomplished equestrian portrait painters in France in the early nineteenth century. In terms of scale, quality and dramatic power, it must surely be considered amongst his finest works. The stance of the powerful thoroughbred - in half rear - emphasises the calm nature and courage of the Princess. Francisca of Brazil (1824-98) married a son of Louis Philippe I, the King of the French, and had three children. Born at the Imperial Palace of Saint Christopher, her youngest brother was the future Pedro II...

Studio of Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641, Flemish) Study of a Head of Man Circa 1627-32, Van Dyck’s second Antwerp period Oil on paper, laid down on canvas Dimensions 15 x 14 inches...

Circle of Jacques-Louis David (French, 18th Century) Provenance: Private Collection, Buenos Aires Exhibited: “Art of Collecting,” Flint Institute of Art, Flint, Michigan, 23 November 2018 – 6 January 2019. This vibrant portrait of young man was traditionally considered a work by Jacques-Louis David, whose style it recalls, but to whom it cannot be convincingly attributed. Rather, it would appear to be by a painter in his immediate following—an artist likely working in France in the first decade of the nineteenth century. Several names have been proposed as the portrait’s author: François Gérard, Louis Hersent, Anne-Louis Girodet (Fig. 1), Theodore Gericault, and Jean-Baptiste Wicar, among others. Some have thought the artist Italian, and have proposed Andrea Appiani, Gaspare Landi...

Procaccini was born in Bologna, but his family moved to Milan when the artist was eleven years old. His artistic education was evidently familial— from his father Ercole and his elder brothers Camillo and Carlo Antonio, all painters—but his career began as a sculptor, and at an early age: his first known commission, a sculpted saint for the Duomo of Milan, came when he was only seventeen years old. Procaccini’s earliest documented painting, the Pietà for the Church of Santa Maria presso San Celso in Milan, was completed by 1604. By this time the artist had made the trip to Parma recorded by his biographers, where he studied Correggio, Mazzola Bedoli, and especially Parmigianino; reflections of their work are apparent throughout Procaccini's career. As Dr. Hugh Brigstocke has recently indicated, the present oil sketch is preparatory for the figure of the angel seen between the heads of the Virgin and St. Charles Borrommeo in Procaccini's altarpiece in the Church of Santa Afra in Brescia (ill. in Il Seicento Lombardo; Catalogo dei dipinti e delle sculture, exh. cat. Milan 1973, no. 98, pl. 113). As such it is the only known oil sketch of Procaccini's that can be directly connected with an extant altarpiece. The finished canvas, The Virgin and Child with Saints Charles Borrommeo and Latino with Angels, remains in the church for which it was painted; it is one of the most significant works of Procaccini's maturity and is generally dated after the artist's trip to Genoa in 1618. The Head of an Angel is an immediate study, no doubt taken from life, but one stylistically suffused with strong echoes of Correggio and Leonardo. Luigi Lanzi, writing of the completed altarpiece in 1796, specifically commented on Procaccini's indebtedness to Correggio (as well as the expressions of the angels) here: “Di Giulio Cesare...

Peintre actif à Rome au XVIe siècle - entourage de Scipione Pulzone (Gaeta 1550 - Rome 1598) La Pietà (Christ mort soutenu par la Madone) huile sur t...

Charles Jervas (1675-1739) Portrait of Joseph Mellish (1675-1733) Oil on canvas; held in a carved period frame Dimensions refer to size of frame. Provenance: Blyth Hall, Nottinghamshire, England; by descent to Sir Andrew Buchanan of Hodsock Priory, Nottinghamshire In 1635 John Mellish, a merchant tailor of London, bought the estate of Blyth in Nottinghamshire. His son, a wealthy Oporto merchant, dying unmarried, left Blyth in 1703 to a cousin, Joseph Mellish, who became one of Newcastle’s earliest and most important political supporters in the county. He went up to Clare College, Cambridge in 1692 and on to the Inner Temple the following year. He married Dorothea Gore, daughter of Sir William Gore...

A rich merchant is an original old master artwork realized in the 18th Century. Mixed colored oil painting on canvas depicting a merchant looking at a coin in his left hand. Provena...

Portrait of Sir William Cowper [1639-1706] Circle of Michael Dahl 17th century oval, bust-length, with a long dark wig, and wearing a lace cravat and bro...