Joseph Highmore

Portrait Of a Lady, 18th Century - Old Master, Oil, Portrait Painting, J. Highmore

1745

This replica of the last self-portrait of Jean-Baptiste Greuze painted in 1804, executed by his daughter Anna at her father's side and recently rediscovered, provides us with a poignant image of the great artist, represented with panache despite the disillusions of life. 1. Jean-Baptiste Greuze Jean-Baptiste Greuze was the sixth child of a roofer from Tournus and retained a certain rusticity in his behaviour from his provincial childhood, beyond his taste for describing picturesque scenes of the countryside. He initially started training with a little-known painter from Lyon, Charles Grandon, before his genius was recognised in Paris where he became a full-time student of the Académie (of Painting) in 1755. He exhibited his work for the first time at the Salon during the summer of 1755, before leaving on a trip to Italy in the company of Louis Gougenot, abbot of Chezal-Benoît. Upon his return to Paris, Greuze became a prolific painter, participating widely in the Salons held between 1759 and 1765, to which he sent no less than 63 paintings: numerous genre scenes (The Marriage Contract, The Beloved Mother), but also portraits of his family circle, of courtiers and art lovers, or of his colleagues. The Academy closed the doors of the Salons to him in 1767 for not having produced his reception piece within six months of his reception, as was the tradition. He worked actively on this painting (Emperor Severus rebukes Caracalla, his son, for trying to assassinate him ) until the summer of 1769, tackling historical and mythological subjects for the first time. Once this was completed, he was then fully admitted to the Academy, but as a genre painter, and not as an historical painter, which had been one of the greatest humiliations of his life. Greuze then refused any participation in events organised by the Academy or its successor, the Academy of Fine Arts until 1800. Abandoning history painting, he gave a new twist to genre scenes, bringing them closer to history painting, as in this pair of canvases which constitutes some of his masterpieces: The Paternal Curse: The Ungrateful Son and The Paternal Curse: The Punished Son . Married in 1759 to Anne-Gabrielle Babuti, the daughter of a Parisian bookseller, his marriage was unhappy and his wife probably frequently unfaithful. The institution of divorce enabled him to record their separation in 1793, keeping his two daughters Anna-Geneviève, born in April 1762, and Louise-Gabrielle, born in May 1764, with him. Little is known about his daughter Anna except that she was herself a painter and lived with her father until his death. It is likely that most of the paintings she produced up to that date were attributed to her father, whose technique she shared to a great extent, making it extremely difficult to establish an autonomous corpus of her paintings. Greuze died in his studio at the Louvre on March 21st 1805. The attention paid to the expressivity of his characters and the emotional charge they convey enabled Jean-Baptiste Greuze to enjoy immense popularity with the eighteenth-century public, and they still constitute Greuze's true modernity. As the artist said, "I dipped my brush in my heart". Greuze was also an exceptional draughtsman and a portraitist of immense talent and exceptional longevity who painted both the Dauphin (the son of Louis XV and father to Louis XVI) and the young Napoleon Bonaparte. 2. Greuze's self-portraits Greuze was very much influenced by Dutch paintings during all his life. While the source of his inspiration for genre scenes can be found in Gerard Dou...

A 19th century oil on canvas, portrait of a young woman.This portrait is believed to be of Queen Mary II taken from an engraving of the painting, Halswell Park Sale, 1948, lot no.1323, Housed in a decorative gilt frame.Size overall being 70 x 86 cm high (27.5 x 33¾ inches approx) size of painting 54 x 68 cm (21 x 26 inches approx) To the rear of the portrait is a newspaper cutting of the engraving ,also a typed note regarding the provenance of the painting (see photo) Condition overall is very good, the Canvas has been relined, under UV there are areas of overpaint to bosom.Frame overall very good some minor self coloured losses Mary II (30 April 1662 – 28 December 1694) Mary, born at St James's Palace in London on 30 April 1662,eldest daughter of James, Duke of York (the future James II & VII) , and his first wife, Anne Hyde. Mary's uncle was King Charles II, her maternal grandfather, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, served for a lengthy period as Charles's chief adviser. Mary married William of Orange. Willem Wissing, known in England as William Wissing...

Portrait of a lady, traditionally identified as Grace Loftus,of Beverley hall yorkshire.Three-quarter-length, before a window. Dressed in blue and wearing a white bonnet. The paintin...

19th century portrait, child at play ,Attributed to Henry Tanworth Wells A beautiful oval portrait of a young child at play, attributed to the portrait painter Henry Tanworth Wells. finely executed, this oil on canvas is in excellent condition. Housed in a period frame. The size overall is 79 cm x 62 cm whilst the painting is 56 cm x 46 cm Henry Tanworth Wells [1828-1903] Henry Tanworth Wells RA was an English miniature and portrait painter. He was a member of the Pre-Raphaelite circle though he painted in the academic style. His most popular painting...

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 head and shoulders portrait of a gentleman wearing a white powdered wig. The gentleman in question is as yet unknown but certainly has the look of an aristocrat. oil on canvas, housed in later gilt frame The painting is 57cm by 44cm (17½ x 22¼ inches high) whilst overall is 58½ x 71 cm (23 x 28 inches high) The condition overall is very good having had some restoration and also relined and cleaned. There is some cracquelure throughout and some areas of retouching a few minor abrasions and losses to the background mainly edges by frame non of which detract from this fine piece. Peter Lely...