Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 17

Portrait of a Cleric - British 18th century art Old Master oil painting

1770

About the Item

This fantastic portrait oil painting is attributed to British Old Master Joseph Highmore and was painted in 1770. The half length standing portrait is of a Cleric, dressed in his wig and black coat. Behind him, a green curtain has been pulled back to reveal his library, suggesting he is a man of learning and wishes to be portrayed as such, but he is also smiling. . The detail and highlights in his face are superb and the green background of curtain and books is perfect. The Bilblia Tillotson Sacria Works are to his left. John Tillotson was the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury from 1691-1694. A really excellent British Old Master portrait oil painting. Dated (17)70 lower right. Provenance. London estate. Christies London. Auction stamps verso. Condition. Oil on canvas 32 inches by 26 inches unframed and in good condition. Frame. Housed in an ornate gilt frame, 40 inches by 34 inches framed and in good condition. 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.
  • Attributed to:
    Joseph Highmore (1692 - 1780, British)
  • Creation Year:
    1770
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 40 in (101.6 cm)Width: 34 in (86.36 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    London, GB
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU853113398212

More From This Seller

View All
The Penitent Magdalene - Italian Baroque Old Master art portrait oil painting
By Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Il Guercino)
Located in London, GB
This stunning Italian Baroque Old Master portrait oil painting is attributed to the circle of Guercino, Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (1591 - 1666) and it is ascribed verso. The paint...
Category

17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of Frances Howard Duchess of Richmond - Flemish Old Master oil painting
By Anthony van Dyck
Located in London, GB
This stunning Flemish Old Master portrait oil painting is attributed to circle of Anthony Van Dyck. Painted circa 1630, the sitter is Frances Stewart née Howard (1578 -1639) Duchess ...
Category

Early 17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of a Lady - Old Master Scottish art oil painting by RSA president
By John Gordon Watson
Located in London, GB
A fine Old Master British portrait oil painting which dates to circa 1830 and depicts a girl. Painted by the president of the Royal Scottish Academy, Sir John Watson Gordon...
Category

19th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Madonna and Child with St Catherine and Putti - Italian 17thC art oil painting
By Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari
Located in London, GB
This stunning Italian 17th century Old Master religious oil painting is by Baroque artist Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chari. Painted circa 1684 it is a large and vibrant oil painting of the Madonna and child. To their left is Saint Catherine and to their right four putti or cherubs look upon a sleeping Jesus. The detail in all the figures faces and hair and the colouring is just superb, especially the Madonna's sumptuous blue robe. A really fabulous 17th century religious work with previous full attribution and excellent provenance which was once attributed to Carlo Maratta (1625-1713). Provenance. With Vangelisti, Lucca, Italy, 1966, from whom acquired by the family of the previous owner, and thence by descent. Red seal stamp verso Christies April 15th 1912 Christies March 23 1956 Condition. Oil on Canvas. Image size 44 x 54 inches unframed and in good condition. Frame. Housed in an original Carlo Maratta frame, 62 inches by 52 inches framed and in good condition. Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari (1654-1727), also known simply as Giuseppe Chiari, was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque period, active mostly in Rome. Born in Rome, he was one of the main assistants, along with Giuseppe Passeri and Andrea Procaccini, in the studio of an elder Carlo Maratta. His father had opposed the career, but his mother, on the recommendation of a painter named Carlo Antonio Gagliani. By the age of 22, he had frescoed the lateral lunettes (Birth of Virgin and Adoration of Magi...
Category

17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of a Lady - British 17th century art Old Master portrait oil painting
Located in London, GB
This lovely British Old Master portrait oil painting is by noted British Old Master artist James Cranke. Cranke taught George Romney to paint as a small boy, living near by. Painted ...
Category

17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of Anne Evelyn - British 18thC Old master oil painting excellent prov.
By George Romney
Located in London, GB
This stunning British 18th century Old Master portrait oil painting, with exceptional provenance, is by noted artist George Romney. It was painted in 1788, commissioned by James Evelyn of Felbridge as it is of his younger daughter Anne, aged 20 years old. James was a Doctor of Law and Anne's mother was his second wife, Jane. Felbridge house, Anne's home, was in the village of Godstone in Surrey. This superb oil painting is a seated portrait of Anne, wearing a white dress with a green sash, her forearms exposed and her hands in her lap. Anne is blessed with the most wonderful long auburn curly hair and is visually stunning. Her body is partly turned away from the artist/viewer and she is slightly gazing down at us with confident, clear eyes. Anne is pictured in a landscape with a dramatic sky behind her. Romney's brushwork on her dress, hair and the background is superb. The delicate detailing of her facial features is also stunning. Sometimes Old Master portraits can be a little staid, but this one of Anne with her wild auburn hair and bold look is just magnificent. This is a fantastic example of George Romney's work and of an 18th century British Old Master with exceptional detailed provenance. Name plate states: Anne, younger daughter of James Evelyn of Fellbridge Esq. 1788, aged 20. Romney. Provenance. With Charles Cecil Cope Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool (1784-1851) With The Hon. Henry Berkeley Portman (1860-1923), Later 3rd Viscount Portman; with Emma, Viscountess Portman (1862-1929) By 1926; with her daughter Lady Moyra Dawson-Damer (1897-1962) Thence by family descent. Painted in 1788. There are various labels verso. Mentioned in Lord Hawkesbury's Catalogues of Portraits at Compton Place and at Buxted Park, in Sussex, 1903, p.18, no. 3, at Buxted Park, as in the 'Dining Room, South Wall'. Further Bibliography: Gower (R. S.) Romney, London, 1904, p. 175 Kidson (Alex) George Romney, A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2015, I, p. 205, no. 422 (illus).Ward (Humphrey) and Roberts (William) Romney: A Biographical and Critical Essay, London: T Agnew & Sons, 1904, p. 51 Condition. Oil on canvas. Image size 30 inches by 24 inches and in good condition. Frame. Housed in an ornate gilt frame with name plate, 37 inches by 31 inches and in good condition. George Romney (1734-1802) was born in Dalton-on-Furness, Lancashire, on 15 December 1734, the third of the eleven children of John Romney and Anne Simpson. Leaving school at the age of eleven, he worked for eight years in his father's cabinetmaking workshop before being apprenticed to a local painter, Christopher Steele, with whom he served for two years, from 1755 to 1757, in Kendal, York, and Lancaster. He married a Kendal girl, Mary Abbot...
Category

1780s Old Masters Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

You May Also Like

17th Century Oil Painting Portrait of a Young English Boy
By Gerard Soest
Located in London, GB
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...
Category

17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

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

Portrait of Sir Edward Littleton, First Baron Lyttleton, Old Masters Oil
By (After) Anthony Van Dyck
Located in London, GB
After Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) Portrait of Sir Edward Lord Littleton, First Baron Lyttleton (1589-1645) Oil on canvas Image size: 96 by 76 cm Hand carved auricular frame Sir Edward Littleton was Solicitor-General to Charles I, 1634-40; Chief Justice of Common Pleas, January 1640-January 1641; Lord Keeper, 1641-45. Painted in his robes, and wearing the chain of office...
Category

17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Portrait of a Lady, After Sir Peter Lely (1610-1680) Oil Painting
By After Sir Peter Lely
Located in Uppingham, GB
Oil Painting After Sir Peter Lely (1610-1680) Portrait of a Lady Housed in a Lely gold Leaf Frame. Peter Lely: In 1647 he became a member of the Pain...
Category

17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of a Gentleman, 17th Century Dutch Old Masters Oil
Located in London, GB
Circle of Gerard van Honthorst 1592 - 1656 Portrait of a Gentleman Oil on wooden panel Image size: 29 x 23 inches Contemporary gilt frame Gerard van Honthorst was a Dutch Golden Age...
Category

17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings

Materials

Wood Panel, Oil

Saint Jerome Oil on copper 16th Century Paint Old master Italy Emilian school
By Giuseppe Mazzuoli known as Bastarolo (Ferrara 1536 - 1589)
Located in Riva del Garda, IT
Ferrara school of the late sixteenth century - circle of Giuseppe Mazzuoli known as Bastarolo (Ferrara 1536 - 1589) St. Jerome penitent in the cave ...
Category

16th Century Old Masters Paintings

Materials

Oil

Recently Viewed

View All