Old Masters Portrait Paintings

Circle of Thomas Hudson (1701-1779) British. 18th Century Bust Portrait of a Lady, Oil on Canvas, Inscribed on a label verso, canvas: 30" x 25" (76.2 x 63.5cm). frame: 30 x 25 in...

Figure with Cherubim in Wilderness Italian School, 17th century oil painting on wood panel framed 13 x 11 inches condition: overall for its age very good, though the work is most likely a preparatory...

Artist/ School: Italian Old Master, 18th century Title: Angel and Saints appearing to figures, one dressed in a white ruff collar. Medium: oil on canvas...

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...

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...

This beautiful portrait was painted circa 1725 and is a fine example of the English eighteenth century portrait style. The artist has chosen to depict the lady against a plain background wearing a simple red silk dress and transparent headdress hanging down the back. The sitter is not shown with jewellery or any other elements to distract the viewer’s attached, thus highlighting the beauty of the young sitter. This restrained manner achieves a sense of understated elegance. The portrait genre was valued particularly highly in English society. Neither landscapes nor allegorical pictures were ever priced so highly at exhibitions and in the trade as depictions of people, from the highest aristocracy to scholars, writers, poets and statesmen. With the rich colouring and lyrical characterisation, these works are representative of the archetypal English portrait and is are very appealing examples of British portraiture...

King Charles I British artist, early 20th century signed with initials oil on canvas, framed framed: 36 x 29 inches canvas: 32 x 26 inches provenance: private collection, UK conditio...

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...

Outstanding small oil on velum sketch of a North African/ Arab head study. The painting is a classic sketch and I'm sure the figure would have been used in a much larger finished w...

Circle of Bernhard Keilhau, known as Monsù Bernardo (Helsingør 1624 - Rome 1687) - Maddalena. 64 x 79.5 cm without frame, 82 x 98 cm with frame. Antique oil painting on canvas, in ...

"The Return from School" English School, circa 1820 after the painting by William Redmore Bigg, RA, British 1755-1828 condition: excellent restored condition Provenance: Christie’s, 1988; Private Collection, UK A very fine Georgian painting capturing this wonderful image from the social history of England. We see a school boy returning home for the holidays, his trunk and belongings being handed over, whilst his mother and siblings watch on, on the steps and entrance to their large country home (the gate lodge stands in the distance). It is a superbly painted work and presented in excellent condition. The image is after the original painting by William Redmore Bigg, RA, British 1755-1828. Chiefly known from their many engraved versions, the original oils...

The Penitent Magdalene French School, 18th century oil painting on canvas, framed canvas: 30.5 x 25 inches framed: 39 x 33 inches condition: exc...