ANTON RAPHAEL MENGS (1728-1779) John Brudenell-Montague, later Marquess of Monthermer (1758) Oil on canvas (244 x 171 cm) The Duke of Buccleuch John Lord Brudenell (1735-1770), who wore the title of Marquess of Monthermer from 1766, was the only son of Geroge Brudenell, 4th Earl of Cardigan and from 1766 Duke of Montagu who …
Anton Raphael Mengs
ANTON RAPHAEL MENGS (1728-1779) Self-portrait (1774) Oil on canvas (73.5 x 56 cm) Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK Mengs was described by his contemporary Johann Winckelmann as "the greatest artist of his time and perhaps of succeeding times, reborn like a phoenix, from the ashes of the first Raphael, to teach the world beauty …
Triple Portrait of Charles I
ANTON VAN DYCK (1599-1641) Triple portrait of Charles I (1635-36) Oil on canvas (84.5 x 99.5 cm) Royal Collection, Windsor Castle The painting was probably begun in the second half of 1635. In his letter to Lorenzo Bernini of 17 March 1636 the King expressed the hope that Bernini would execute 'il Nostro Ritratto …
A medieval epic
PIER FRANCESCO MOLA (1612-1666) Erminia and Vanfrino tending the wounded Tancred (c.1653) Oil on canvas: 69 x 92 cm The Legion of Honor Museum, San Francisco Born in a small village near Lugano, Pier Francesco Mola moved to cosmopolitan Rome with his family in 1616. His father, a respected architect, was the author of …
A dashing Guards officer
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS (1723-1792) Captain George K. H. Coussmaker (1782) Oil on canvas (238 x 145 cm) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Painted in 1782, this is one of Reynolds' finest works. He devoted an exceptionally large number of sittings to this portrait; he had twenty-one appointments with the young Coussmaker between February 9 …
A triple portrait
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS (1723-1792) The Honourable Henry Fane with Inigo Jones and Charles Blair (1763) Oil on canvas (254 x 360 cm) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Joshua was the seventh child of Samuel Reynolds, a schoolmaster, and his wife, Teophila Potter. He would have received a sound classical education under his father who …
A handsome gentleman
SIR PETER LELY (1618-1680) Sir Henry Capel Oil on canvas (126 x 103 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The artist was the son of a captain of infantry in the service of the Elector of Brandenburg. Born Pieter van der Faes, he adopted the pseudonym Lely. He arrived in England in the …
A classical landscape
JOHN WOOTTON (1682-1764) A classical landscape with gypsies (1748) Oil on canvas (140 x 130 cm) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Born in Snitterfield (Warwickshire) circa 1682, John Wootton is best remembered as a pioneer in the painting of sporting subjects and was considered as the finest practitioner of the genre in his day. …
A Georgian Beauty
GEORGE ROMNEY (1734-1802) Lady Elizabeth Stanley, Countess of Derby (1778) Oil on canvas (127 x 102 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Romney received little formal education, having left school at an early age to train with his father, a skilled cabinetmaker. In 1755 he was indentured for two years to an itinerant …
The arrogant admiral
FRANCIS COTES (1726-1770) Admiral Harry Paulet, Sixth Duke of Bolton (1765) Oil on canvas (127 x 102 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The son of a prominent apothecary and the older brother of Samuel Cotes, the miniaturist, Francis Cotes was born in the Strand on May 20, 1726. According to Horace Walpole, …
Old Masters 