Charles D’Agar Portrait of Margaret Godolphin

Jan van der Vaart (1647-1727) Portrait of Dorothy, Lady Brownlow (1664-1700) Oil on canvas; held in a period carved wood frame circa 1687 Considered a beauty of the age, Dorothy, Lady Brownlow was painted on a number of occasions by some of the most talented and respected artists of the day; Kneller, Riley, Closterman, Dahl and Wissing, all rendered her features in oil for posterity. The portrait presented here is by Jan van der Vaart who from 1685-1687 was employed by Willem Wissing as a drapery and landscape painter. After Wissing’s death in 1687 he practiced as an independent portraitist much in the style of his master with some influence also of Kneller. This work is in fact the head and shoulders taken from Wissing’s three-quarter length of Lady Brownlow which hangs at Belton House, Lincolnshire and produced as a mezzotint in 1687. Van der Vaart has made some intriguing alterations particularly as the sitter now looks directly at us, appearing rather more provocative and self assured of her beauty. The confident rendering of the dress and pearls and the thickly drawn copious hair are hallmarks of Van der Vaart’s work. It is likely he completed this portrait – shortly after Wissing’s version – as a smaller variant intended for another family member as was often the practice. Dorothy Mason married Sir William Brownlow 4th Bt. in July 1688; she was the daughter and heir of Sir Richard Mason a politician and courtier to Charles II who owned estates at Bishop’s Castle, Salop and Sutton Surrey. She came from, and married into extreme wealth; her dowry upon marriage was £10,000 and on her death her husband inherited the estates that were once her father’s. In June 1697 William Brownlow succeeded his brother to the baronetcy and to most of his landed estates including Belton House. In 1698 he abandoned his Peterborough seat to contest Bishop’s Castle on behalf of his wife and in the interest of his mother-in-law, Lady Anna Mason...

A late 19th century botanical study depicting a red lily. Watercolor on paper held within a reeded giltwood frame.

A 15/100 scale beautiful watercolor of a steam locomotive listing the technical names for the component parts and inscribed 'Pensionnat St Gabriel - Chatell...

A late 19th century botanical watercolor depicting a spring blossom.

A late 19th century botanical watercolor, depicting an exotic cactus blossom. Set upon a paper mount within a reeded giltwood frame.

A late 19th century watercolor and pencil study of a golden clematis, Clematis Tangutica. Watercolor and pencil on paper set within a reeded giltwood frame.

Portrait of a young woman ,wearing a bouquet of chrysanthemums in her hair.(Allegory of Spring?) SCHREIBER Charles Baptiste (1847-1902) He studied in...

Vintage circa 1950s gouache on paper portrait painting by Charles Berkeley Normann (1903-1985) Norway/Texas. Likely a study of a bust sculptur...

Watercolor and ink depicting a young lady in red attire with shaded blue eyes, sitting in a green chair, amid a collection of flowers. Other figures, presumably prostitutes visible o...

Portrait of the Whaleship Charles W. Morgan, by James Cree (1867 – 1951), artist active in the New Bedford area from 1910 to about 1932, a watercolor of the iconic American whaleship under sail. The MORGAN is the most famous Yankee whale ship, and the only surviving 19th Century whaleship from the age of sail...

Stunning example of a late Nineteenth Century rare Miniature Portrait Watercolour on paper within its original hinged lid velvet lined leather case, unsigned, possibly by an English ...

Pair of Framed Pastel Portraits of French Aristocrats, signed and dated by Charles Nicolas Noel, 1765 The Gentleman with Aristocratic clothes and holding a document of importance....