Object Literature
The level of skill seen in the painting is pretty high, the young gentleman, probably in his late twenties, is depicted with a hint of a smile, having a good head of hair, with dark buttoned woollen overcoat, white collar and cravat. The whites of his eyes are still apparent and are rendered well, and the sitter is less rotund than many seen depicted of the period.
This picture would have hung in a very large and prominent country house, its proportions and quality speak for themselves and it would have been hugely expensive to create at the time of its commission. As with the ‘selfie’ today, portraits were also a chance for more self-conscious sitters to be depicted in the latest fashions. In the eighteenth century, the upper classes entered a new era of prosperity. No longer the preserve of royalty, commissioned portraits, of oneself or one’s ancestors, became a coveted symbol of wealth and status which continued even more so in the nineteenth century. The portraits took pride of place in the home or were given to others as gifts.
Pleasing in its originality, the quality still shining through, and a decorative delight.