18th Century and Earlier Portrait Paintings

Pauwels Franck, known as Paolo Fiammingo (Antwerp, 1540 - Venice, 1596) Venus lying in a landscape Oil on canvas 116 x 150 cm. In antique frame 136 x 170 cm. The work is accompanied by a critical card by Dr. Federica Spadotto The splendid painting proposed sees portrayed, bare and stretched out on a red brocade cloth in gold sprinkled with roses, a refined and sensual Venus, in a composition with a profound symbolic value, and arriving at the perfect representation of the Renaissance woman who, like Venus, becomes an allegory love, eros, beauty and fertility. The canvas is part of the prestigious Venetian artistic and cultural environment of the second half of the sixteenth century, whose distinctive distinctive trait can be traced back to its cosmopolitan vocation. This characteristic, as Dr. Spadotto noted in her in-depth study, belongs to the same physiology of the Venetian capital, that is, being a distinctly commercial city located in a strategic point with respect to trade. Representing one of the liveliest ports in the Mediterranean also meant witnessing the continuous passage not only of goods, but of men, ideas, suggestions from distant countries, which influenced not only the taste of their people, but above all art. This happened thanks to the circulation of prints, as well as pictorial specimens, to which are added the stays of great foreign artists and, above all, the permanence in the capital of a non-negligible number of Dutch, Flemish and German masters. An emblematic case in this regard comes from Pauwels Franck (Antwerp, 1540 - Venice, 1596), better known as Paolo Fiammingo, who established himself in his native city at a young age - in 1561 a figure enrolled in the Guild of San Luca - and arrived in Venice in 1573. . He resided in Venice from 1584 until his death, although the stylistic and formal references of some of his works have led critics to believe that in previous years he had undertaken a journey to central Italy, or to Florence and Rome, where he would have metabolized the lively cultural debate that permeated these cities and which, on the other hand, seemed completely absent in Venice. Here Paolo will be fascinated by the sense of color and by the atmospheric component fixed on the canvas by Jacopo Tintoretto (Venice 1518 - 1594), of which he becomes a collaborator, to undergo, around 1590, the suggestion of Paolo Caliari...

Titan Fine Art present this striking portrait, which was painted by one of the most talented artists working in England during the last half of the 17th century, John Greenhill. Gre...

Eastern European young woman in traditional dress with silver lacings and jewelry holding an open book. This portrait pose is in the Renaissance period Mannerist style, and the young...

Collections: Robert Gallon (1845-1925); Private Collection, UK. Oil on canvas laid down on panel Framed dimensions: 11.5 x 10 inches This highly engaging, previously unpublished portrait by Johan...

Artist/ School: French School, 18th century Title: Mary and Jesus Medium: oil on canvas, framed Framed: 17 x 14.5 inches Canvas: 16 x 12.75 inches Provenance: private collection...

18th century, antique painting, oil on canvas, old master. Mother with child. Relined canvas. Stretcher frame also renewed. Artist unknown.

Cardinal with missive is an original old master artwork realized in the 17th Century. Mixed colored oil painting on canvas. Provenance: Italy. Avery precoius artwork depicting a ca...

This museum quality old master oil on canvas formal portrait painting depicting the family of the Count Zanardi is signed by the artist- the female painter Lucia Casalini Torelli- and published in a book dedicated to Casalini Torelli’s workshop and academy. This palatial masterpiece artwork comes directly from the ancient Villa Maraini Guerrieri - Palidano di Gonzaga (Mantua), an historic Italian heritage building owned by the descendants of the family portrayed for more than two centuries, until 1998. The big scale of this oil on canvas masterpiece painting states the relevance of Lucia Casalini Torelli as a painter. The present artwork is a formal family portrait painting that aim to introduce the characters depicted according to their social role in the society. The noble family is all gathered under a loggia overlooking a park, the landscape in the background is partially covered by a beautiful red cloth on the right side. The father stands up and holds the hand of his eldest son, proudly introducing his future heir. The son wears a light-blue dress and red boots, he is depicted in a serious pose holding a black tricorn hat under his arm and a rapier sword on his belt. The mother wears an elegant gold and dark green brocade dress, she is sitting with her youngest daughter on her knees while her second son is by her side. The little daughter wears a lovely long red and dress with white lace and holds an apple on her hand. The son stands next to his mother and is dressed in a brown priestly clothes. This palatial old masters piece was probably painted in 1740 due to the similarities with Cardinal Doria’ s portrait, now on display at the Doria Palace Museum, the official residence of the Prince of Genoa. The painting features original canvas (“prima tela”) and antique original patina, it is in excellent overall condition considering the age, use and its large scale. A formal detailed condition report and the results of the inspection with the UV lamp accompanied by photos is available on request. As well as for its exceptional quality and quite perfect state of conservation, this painting is particularly important and even more valuable both for the artist who painted it and for its absolutely exclusive provenance. Lucia painted the most prominent and powerful noble families of her time, the location of these paintings is unknown to the art market as it is extremely likely that the portraits are still kept in private collections. Furthermore, Lucia was one of the most appreciated artists of her time, so important that she was admitted as a member of the academy at a time when women were forbidden to attend these studies. In 1706, Felice Torelli...

This mid-18th-century half-length German portrait depicts a middle-aged aristocrat wearing armour and a wig. Despite his heavily-clad appearance, it’s likely that this rather noncha...

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...

18th/19th Century School 'A scene of Christ entering Jerusalem' Medium: oil on canvas, framed Size of painting: 21.5" x 18.25" inches condition: overa...

Moses Striking Water from the Rock; Circle of Pietro Dandini, Italian 1646-1712 Italian School, late 17th century oil on canvas, framed framed: 3...

Nicolò Zafuri (circle of) (documented in Candia between 1487 and 1500, died before 10 July 1501) Title: Madonna with Child Medium: Oil on panel Dimensions: without frame 49 x 40 cm ...

Christ and John the Baptist, the Apostle Peter, and Saint Augustine of Hippo, triptych After Pinturicchio (1454-1513) Large Italian Renaissance triptych...

Set of Eight Apostles each oil on panel each framed (different as some are golden, some are not, please view the photos) So far there is no certain attribution. The style of the ser...

Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – 1680 London) Portrait of lady with a crown, possibly Bridget Drury Lady Shaw, formerly Viscountess Kilmorey, later Lady Baber (d.1696) c.1665 Oil on canvas 46 1/2 x 40 3/4 inches, Framed 42 1/4 x 36 1/4 inches, Unframed Inscribed left [……….]Isabella James Mulraine wrote the following for this piece: This portrait dates to the middle of the 1660s, the decade when Lely’s career took off as successor to Sir Anthony van Dyck. At the Restoration Charles II had appointed him Principal Painter to the King and paid a pension £200 per annum ‘as formerly to Sr. Vandyke...’1 Lely had trained in Haarlem and he was in his early twenties when he came to London in 1643. He was an astute businessman and a wise courtier. In 1650 he painted a portrait of Oliver Cromwell (Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery) while maintaining links with the Royalist exiles through the 1650s. He had arrived in England as a painter of small-scale portraits and lush scenes of nymphs in landscapes in a Dutch style. His experience of Van Dyck in English collections transformed his painting. His lavish and alluring vision of Arcadia exactly captured the spirit of the Court and as Principal Painter he dominated English portraiture for the next twenty years. Lely ran a highly efficient studio along Netherlandish lines, employing a team of specialists like the drapery painter John Baptist Gaspars and young artists-in-training like Nicolas de Largilliere. He had numerous rivals during that period, and by 1670 he had introduced numbered standard poses to speed up production, while collaborating with printmakers for further revenue and advertising. He died in 1680 of a stroke while painting, working to the last. The portrait, painted at a date when Lely’s poses and execution were still individual and inventive shows a lady sitting at three-quarter length facing away from the viewer. She has begun to turn towards the viewer, a pose with a long pedigree in art, first used by Leonardo da Vinci in the Mona Lisa (Louvre). She steadies her blue drapery where it might slip from her arm with the movement, a flash of realism beautifully captured. Like Van Dyck, Lely painted his female sitters in a timeless costume rather than contemporary fashion, showing a loose gown and floating silk draperies. It presented the sitter as a classical ideal. The portrait would not date. The saffron dress may be the work of a drapery painter but the brown scarf must be by Lely himself, and appears unfinished, broadly sketched in behind the shoulder. The delicate blue glaze and nervous highlights suggest shimmering translucence. Lely was a master of painting hands – his hand studies are marvels of drawing – and the lady’s hands are superb, exactly drawn, delicately modelled and expressive. The fidgety gestures, clutching the gown, fiddling with the edge of the scarf, give the portrait psychological bite, suggesting the personality behind the calm courtier’s expression, adding to the sense shown in the look of the eyes and mouth that the lady is about to speak. The portrait’s language is Vandykian. The inspiration comes directly from Van Dyck’s English portraits of women. Lely owned Van Dyck’s Portrait of Lady Elizabeth Thimbleby and Dorothy Viscountess Andover (National Gallery, London) and the sitter’s costume quotes Lady Andover’s saffron dress and brown scarf. But Lely paints a generation who sat nearer to the ground and through a dialogue of expression and gesture he shows sitters who are more flesh and blood than Van Dyck’s. The background with a column and curtain is different to those shown in most of Lely’s portraits of women. They tend to include trees or fountains, with a glimpse of landscape. But there are other examples. A portrait of the King’s reigning mistress, Barbara Villiers Duchess of Cleveland...

French School, Portrait of Queen Marie Antoinette of France, Pastel /oil Pastel on Paper, Rococo, 18th Century. The Pastel is made in the style...

The Roman Court French School, circa 1780-1820 period pencil/charcoal/white chalk drawing on artist paper stamped with a name (either a collector or the artist) size: 18 x 24 inches ...

Cain & The Death Of Abel, 18th Century School of William Blake (1757-1827) Circa 1790 English School depiction of Cain and the Death Of Abel, oil on canvas. Rare biblical depiction...

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 (38.1 x 3...

Thomas Burford (British, c. 1710-1779) Hare coursing outside a country house Oil on canvas Property of a gentleman From the collection of Peter Roe Dimensions: (Frame) 12.5 in. (H)...

This lovely Old Master portrait oil painting is attributed to the circle of Michael Dahl. Painted circa 1710 the sitter is Rachel Missing, wife of Roger Hogg of Newliston, near Edinb...

Aftrer Anthony VAN DYCK - maybe Studio (1599, Antwerp – 1641, London) Flemish Double Portrait of George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham (1628-1687) & Lord Francis Villiers (1629-1648) Oil on Canvas 170 x 147 cm Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641) No painter has done more to define an era than Anthony van Dyck. He spent only seven and a half years of his short life (1599- 1641) in England. He grew up in Antwerp, where his precocious talent was recognised by Peter Paul Rubens, the greatest painter of his age. He worked in Rubens’s studio and imitated his style as a religious artist, painting biblical scenes redolent of the lush piety of the counter-reformation. But soon he was on the move. In 1620, he visited London for a few months, long enough to paint a history picture, The Continence of Scipio, for the royal favourite, George Villiers, Marquess of Buckingham, and a portrait of his other English patron, the great art collector, Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel. After a stint in Italy, making imposing portraits of the wealthy aristocracy and sketching and copying works by Titian, he returned to the Spanish Netherlands in 1627, becoming court artist to Archduchess Isabella before departing for The Hague in 1631 to paint the Dutch ruler Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. Charles I’s invitation in 1632 led Van Dyck back to London where he was knighted, paid an annual salary of £200 and installed in a house in Blackfriars with a special jetty at which the royal barge might tie up when the King was visiting his studio. By this time Van Dyck was recognised as the leading court painter in Europe, with Velazquez at the court of Philip IV of Spain his only rival. He also excelled as a superbly observant painter of children and dogs. Van Dyck’s notoriety in depicting children led to the introduction of groups of children without their parents as a new genre into English painting (amongst other new genres). For the next 300 years, Van Dyck was the major influence on English portraiture. Nearly all the great 18th Century portraitists, from Pompeo Batoni and Allan Ramsay to Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds, copied Van Dyck’s costumes, poses and compositions. George Duke of Buckingham & his brother Francis Villiers Painted in 1635, this double portrait was originally commissioned by Charles I, who raised the two brothers after their father, George Villiers, was assassinated in 1628. Together with their sister, Lady Mary Villiers, they enjoyed the King’s favour absolutely. Francis whose absolute ‘inimitable handsomeness’ was noted by Marvell (who was killed in a skirmish near Kingston upon Thames). The young duke who commanded a regiment of horse at the Battle of Worcester, remained closely associated with Charles II, held a number of high offices after the Restoration and was one of the most cynical and brilliant members of the King’s entourage, immortalised as ‘Zimri’ in Dryden’s Absalom and Achitopbel. As a young man he had sold his father’s great collection of pictures in the Spanish Netherlands, many of them to the Archduke Leopold Willhelm. Painted for Charles I and placed near the portrait of their sister in the Gallery at St James’ Palace. The handling of both costumes is very rich, and the heads are very carefully and sensitively worked. That of the younger boy in particular is more solidly built up than the lower part of the figure. A preparatory drawing for the younger boy is in the British Museum. There are copies at, e.g., Highclere Castle...

The Martyrdom Of Saint Barbara, 17th Century SCHOOL OF GUERCINO (1581-1666) Large 17th Century Italian Old Master of the Martyrdom of St Barbara, oil on canvas. After being impriso...

This stunning Old Master 17th century oil portrait painting is attributed to Francesco Fieravino, an artist famous in his day for still lifes and carpets. This painting which dates t...

Maid Carrying Roses, 18th Century attributed to Antonio ROTARI (1707-1762) Large 18th Century Italian portrait of a young maid carrying...

Circle of Jean-Étienne Liotard (Geneva, Switzerland, 1702 – 1789) Portrait of a lady Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: without frame 73 x 58 cm – with frame 87.8 x 73.7 x 4.5 cm Not ...

Portrait of a Noble Lady English artist, mid 18th century circle of Thomas Gainsborough (English 1727-1788) oil on canvas, unframed canvas: 30 x 25 inches provenance: private collect...

After a copper engraving (46 x 34 cm) by Gilles Rousselet after Van Dyck, ca. 1640 Paris. Oil on cardboard, 44 x 35 cm Trompe-l'oeils are pictures whose depicted objects are painte...

We are pleased to offer a captivating portrait, most likely painted in the late 18th century, attributed to an artist within the circle of Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich. This oil ...

17th Century Neapolitan Maestro Title: San Vincenzo Ferreri Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: without frame 63 x 48.5 cm - with frame 77 x 63.5 cm Original shaped, carved, sculpted a...

Portrait The Honourable Mrs Elizabeth Tufton (Wilbraham), circa 1710 Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723) Large circa 1710 portrait of The Honourable Mrs E...

This superb Dutch Old Master portrait oil painting is attributed to circle of Nicolaes Maes. Painted circa 1670, the painting is of a lady, sat by a classical fountain with statue an...

Guido Reni (Bologna 1575 - 1642) Workshop of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (full details LINK) Oil on canvas Measurements (cm): 96 x 73 - with frame 112 x 88 This splendid work dep...

This superb Dutch Golden Age portrait is attributed to circle of Dutch artist Wybrand Simonsz de Geest. Painted in 1666 it is a full length portrait of a young William Stonestreet. He is holding the paw of a clipped little white dog with drapes and clouds beyond. (It was common practise to dress young boys in dresses up to the age of about 6 or 7 when they were 'britched' or wore britches). An excellent example of Dutch Golden Age art that wouldn't look out of place in a museum. Wm Stonestreet 1666, Prebend of Selsely is inscribed top left. Provenance. Berkshire estate. Condition. Oil and canvas, 44 inches by 36 inches and in good condition. Frame. Housed in an ornate gilt frame, 52 inches by 44 inches and in good condition. Wybrand Simonsz. de Geest (16 August 1592 – c. 1661) was a Dutch Golden Age portrait painter from Friesland in the Netherlands. Wybrand de Geest was born and died at Leeuwarden. He learned painting from his father, Simon Juckesz, a stained glass worker. He studied later with Abraham Bloemaert. From 1614 to 1618 he travelled in France and Italy on a Grand Tour. In 1616 he met up with Leonard Bramer in Aix-en-Provence. While in Rome he became a member of the painters' circle known as the Bentvueghels. He earned the nickname 'De Friesche Adelaar', or "the Frisian Eagle". De Geest married Hendrickje Fransdr Uylenburgh in 1622, a niece of Saskia van Uylenburgh...

A finely painted portrait of Man aged 55 years. Signed, Inscribed and Dated with old Dutch family provenance. He weighs a large white millstone ruff and a black silk tunic.

The sitter is Mary Charlotte Anne Wellesly-Pole, eldest daughter of William, 4th Earl of Mornington and niece to the Duke of Wellington. This is one of Hoppner's best works. The sitt...

Equestrian portrait of Louis XIV, Workshop of René-Antoine Houasse, (Paris, c. 1645 - Paris, 1710) Late 17th century French school, c. 1690 Oil on canvas, h. 100 cm, w. 80 cm Importa...

Circle of Sir Godfrey Kneller Dutch, (1646-1723) Portrait of a Lady in an Ermine Trimmed Cloak Oil on canvas Image size: 26.5 inches x 22.5 inches Size including frame: 33.5 inches x 29.5 inches A well-executed half-length portrait of a lady painted in a feigned oval, circle of Sir Godfrey Kneller. The use of a feigned oval was a device used in portraiture to give a sense of depth and add an intimacy to the painting, drawing your attention to the sitter. The subject, posed without her wig in the undressed fashion of the day, wears a blue ermine trimmed blue cloak over a white silk robe...

Miniature Portrait French School, late 18th/ early 19th century framed: 5.5 x 5.5 inches board: 2 x 2 inches provenance: private collection, France condition: very good and sound c...

Hendrick Bloemaert (Utrecht 1601/02 – Utrecht 1672) Venus and Cupid Oil on panel H. 75 cm; W. 61 cm Signed and dated 1636 Hendrick Bloemaert is a notable figure of the Golden Age of...

Christ Wearing The Crown Of Thorns, 17th Century circle of Carlo Dolci (1616-1686) Large 17th Century Italian Old Master of Christ wearing the Crown of Thorns, oil on canvas. Excel...

Portrait of a Lady as Venus ATTRIBUTED TO PIERRE GOBERT (1662-1744) FRENCH SCHOOL AROUND 1720 OIL ON CANVAS: H. 55.51 in, W. 42.91 in. IMPORTANT 18TH CENTURY GILTWOOD FRAME (RE-GILT)...

Enoch Seeman - 1894 - 1744 An excellent example of Seeman's work. It is typically unsigned as was the case of many portraits of that time. A three quarter length portrait showing a r...

Highly important American pastel portrait painting by James Sharples Senior (1751-1811), of American politician General William Lyman (1755-1811), painted circa 1795. This painting h...

Oil work on canvas sold with frame. Total size with frame: 58x39x5 cm

This fine late 17th-century Flemish portrait depicts a distinguished gentleman wearing a justaucorps, black cloak, white shirt, vest, leather gloves, and breeches. He’s carrying a wi...

Portrait Of A Elizabethan Gentleman Traditionally Identified As Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) Large Elizabethan School portrait of gentleman traditional...

Bernardo Strozzi, also known as “Il Cappuccino” and “il Prete Genovese”, (Genoa, Italy, 1581 – Venice, Italy, 1644) Title: Portrait of a man with white collar Medium: Oil on canvas D...

Portrait of an elegant British lady with a white silk dress and a pearl necklace. British School, close to Peter Lely.

The painting depicts James (Jacques) Dalbiac, his wife Louise (ne de la Porte) and their five children, James, Charles, Louise, Marianne and Martha in the ornamental gardens of a grand country estate. The extensive gardens extend into the distance with gardeners working in the background and figures strolling through the avenues of trees. A peacock and peahen can be seen on the wall to the left and a potted orange tree to the right. Louise Dalbiac holds an orange taken from the orange tree, aluding to the family's faith and their loyalty to the protestant King William of Orange and their adopted country. The Dalbiacs were wealthy London silk and velvet merchants of French Huguenot origin who had fled France at the end of the 17th century to escape persecution for their protestant faith. England offered safe refuge and their skills and industriousness allowed them to establish one of the most successful businesses in London's Spitalfields which became a new centre of the silk trade, effectively leading to the collapse of the once dominant French silk industry. Both sons, James and Charles followed their father and Uncle into the family business, successfully growing the family's fortune and each going on to own their own country estates. A conversation piece is a genre of painting used to describe group portraits of families and friends, often depicted with their servants and family pets and set within an elegantly furnished interior or the garden of a grand country house. They were a celebration of the intimacy of family relations as well as a sign of status, property and the power of succession. The informality of conversation pieces grew popular in 18th century England, allowing the sitters to present themselves in a more relaxed pose, perhaps engaged in intellectual conversation or showing their talents or interests. In this present portrait, the Dalbiacs are shown richly dressed and and at leisure in a grand country house setting, conveying their success and cultural and social aspirations. Charles Philips (c.1703–1747) was an English artist known for painting a number of portraits and conversation pieces for noble and Royal patrons in the mid-eighteenth century. He was the son of portrait painter Richard Philips...

Portrait Of Lorenzo Suarez, 5th Count Of Corona, 16th Century School of Antonis Mor (1517-1577) Large Spanish School Old Master portrait of Lorenzo Suarez, Count of Corona, oil on ...

18th century Bust portrait of a gentleman in a blue coat with gold buttons (Said to be Edmund Hoyle, inventor of Whist) oil on canvas circle of James Latham. Housed in a gilt frame the size overall is 71 x 84 cm (28 x 33 inches approx) whilst the painting is 56 x 69 cm ( 22 x 27 inches approx) The overall condition is very good having had some restoration. The painting has been relined, cleaned and re varnished. There has been some strengthening/overpainting. There is a Rectangular patch repair along lower edge, centre, reverse approximately 5 x 7cm with associated retouching to front,all essentially done sympathetically. some fine stable craquelure throughout. Some minor self coloured losses to frame. None of the above detracting from a very attractive portrait. Edmond Hoyle Edmond Hoyle English card game authority, "the Father of whist" Born 1672 England Died 29 August 1769 (aged 96–97) London, England Edmond Hoyle (1672 – 29 August 1769)[1] was a writer best known for his works on the rules and play of card games. The phrase "according to Hoyle" came into the language as a reflection of his generally perceived authority on the subject James Latham James Latham was born in Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland and possibly related to the family of Lathams of Meldrum and Ballysheehan. After some practice of his art, Latham studied for an academic year in Antwerp (1724–25) where he became a Master of the Guild of St Luke. He returned to Dublin by 1725, and may have visited England in the 1740s, as the influence of Joseph Highmore, as well as Charles Jervas and William Hogarth, is evident in his work of this period. Anthony Pasquin memorably dubbed Latham "Ireland's Van Dyck". Latham died in Dublin on 26 January 1747. Several of James Latham's portraits are in the National Gallery of Ireland collection in Dublin; one is of the famous MP Charles Tottenham (1694–1758) of New Ross, Co. Wexford, "Tottenham in his Boots" (Cat. No.411) and a second is a portrait of Bishop...

This fine French Old Master portrait oil painting on canvas dates to circa 1770 and is attributed to the circle of Elizabeth Vigee Le Brun. The sitter is Madam van Robais. The van R...

Lady Selby Of Melton. circa 1710 attributed to SIR GODFREY KNELLER (1646-1723) Large circa 1710 portrait of Lady Selby of Melton, oil on canvas attributed to Sir Godfrey Kneller. Excellent quality and condition oval bust scale portrait of the young lady set...

Attributed to Godfried SCHALKEN (Made 1643 – The Hague 1706) Young fischer Oil on panel in one board H. 32.5 cm; L. 25.5 cm Around 1670/75 Related works: - Autograph version with nu...

Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646 - London 1723) circle of Portrait of a Gentleman in a Garden Oil on canvas 67 x 47 cm. Framed 84 x 64 cm. The painting depicts a nobleman portrayed f...

Provenance: Bradley Collection. Private Collection, Upperville, Virginia. Literature: Katlijne van der Stighelen and Hans Vlieghe, Rubens: Portraits of Unidentified and Newly Identified Sitters painted in Antwerp, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, vol. 19, pt. 3, London and Turnhout, 2021, under cat. no. 189, p. 161, and fig. 75. This painting had previously been considered to be by an anonymous Tuscan painter of the sixteenth century in the orbit of Agnolo Bronzino. While the painting does in fact demonstrate a striking formal and compositional similarity to Bronzino’s portraits—compare the nearly identical pose of Bronzino’s Portrait of a Young Man in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Fig. 1)—its style is completely foreign to Italian works of the period. That it is painted on an oak panel is further indication of its non-Italian origin. This portrait can in fact be confidently attributed to the Antwerp artist Huybrecht Beuckelaer. Huybrecht, the brother of Joachim Beuckelaer, has only recently been identified as the author of a distinct body of work formerly grouped under the name of the “Monogrammist HB.” In recent studies by Kreidl, Wolters, and Bruyn his remarkable career has been delineated: from its beginnings with Joachim in the workshop of Pieter Aertsen; to his evident travels to Italy where, it has been suggested, he came into contact with Bronzino’s paintings; to his return to Antwerp, where he seems to have assisted Anthonis Mor in painting costume in portraits; to his independent work in Antwerp (where he entered the Guild of Saint Luke in 1579); and, later to his career in England where, known as “Master Hubberd,” he was patronized by the Earl of Leicester. Our painting was recently published by Dr. Katlijne van der Stighelen and Dr. Hans Vlieghe in a volume of the Corpus Rubenianum, in which they write that the painting “has a very Italian air about it and fits convincingly within [Beuckelaer’s] oeuvre.” Stighelen and Vlieghe compare the painting with Peter Paul Ruben’s early Portrait of a Man, Possibly an Architect or Geographer in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in which the sitter holds a compass and wears a similarly styled doublet (Fig. 2). Huybrecht both outlived and travelled further afield than his brother Joachim, who made his career primarily in Antwerp. Whereas Joachim was the main artistic inheritor of their uncle and teacher, Pieter Aertson, working in similar style and format as a specialist in large-scale genre and still-life paintings, Huybrecht clearly specialized as a painter of portraits and was greatly influenced by the foreign artists and works he encountered on his travels. His peripatetic life and his distinctly individual hand undoubtedly contributed to the fact his career and artistic output have only recently been rediscovered and reconstructed. His periods abroad seem to have overlapped with the mature phase of his brother Joachim’s career, who enrolled in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke much earlier than his brother, establishing himself as an independent painter in 1560. Joachim’s activity was confined to the following decade and half, and his latest work dates from the last year of his life, 1574. Our portrait was likely produced in the late 1560s, a dating supported by the dendrochronological investigation performed by Dr. Peter Klein, which established that it is painted on an oak panel with an earliest felling date of 1558 and with a fabrication date of ca. 1566. This painting presents a portrait of an artist, almost certainly Huybrecht’s self-portrait. The young sitter is confidently posed in a striking patterned white doublet with a wide collar and an abundance of buttons. He stands with his right arm akimbo, his exaggerated hands both a trademark of Huybrecht and his brother Joachim’s art, as well as a possible reference to the “hand of the artist.” The figure peers out of the painting, interacting intimately and directly with the viewer, as we witness him posed in an interior, the tools and results of his craft visible nearby. He holds a square or ruler in his left hand, while a drawing compass...

Portrait Of Lucas Cranach The Elder (1472-1553), 16th Century German Renaissance School Large 16th Century German School portrait identified as Lucas Cranach The Elder, oil on canv...

Hyacinthe Rigaud (Perpignan 1659 - Paris 1743) Circle Portrait of Philip V, King of Spain (Versailles 1683 - Madrid 1746) Oil on canvas 72 x 59 cm - framed 87 x 74 cm. The painting examined here, depicting King Philip V of Spain (Perpignan 1659 - Paris 1743), is to be placed in the circle of the painter Hyacinthe Rigaud (Perpignan 1659 - Paris 1743), one of the most significant portrait painters of his time and a great interpreter of the French school. This is a work of excellent pictorial quality: note the rendering of the facial features and the sharpness of the contours emphasised by the light. The face is characterised by chiaroscuro passages that verisimilarly reproduce light and its effects, rendered with great skill. Philip V wears a black satin costume with a sword at his side, he wears the stiff white Spanish collar and at the same time wears the blue sash of the Order of the Holy Spirit and the collar of the Habsburg Order of the Golden Fleece: this bringing together of the two main orders of France and Spain announced the possibility of a union between the two crowns. In Spanish costume, this effigy is nevertheless fully in line with the French tradition of ceremonial portraiture, also testifying to the renewal that Rigaud had brought about, particularly through the relationship between the character and the splendour of the decoration. The work is inspired, reworked in a reduced format to make it suitable for a private clientele, by the large painting that Rigaud made for the sovereign around 1700, today conserved in the Louvre, reproduced by the same workshop in numerous other versions. The account books...