(To enlarge the images, right click on them and chose "Open in a new tab") "The Cavalier Ottavio Leoni, the son of Ludovico Leoni, Padovano, was likewise known as Padovano although he was born in Rome. His father desired him to devote to painting and particularly to make portraits "alla macchia", a skill in which …
Author: claudius1889
I am interested in European art from the XVI to the XIX centuries. The purpose of this blog is to contact like-minded persons, to share the fruit of my studies with them and exchange information and knowledge.
A cultivated gentleman
ANTON RAPHAEL MENGS (1728-1779) Lord Grey, 5th Earl of Stamford (c. 1760) Oil on canvas (96 x 74 cm) Dunham Massey Hall, England (To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab") As it is well known, Mengs and Batoni were the undisputed master-portraitists of their time. Every aristocratic British …
A Welsh fop
FRANCIS COTES (1726-1770) Richard Myddleton MP (c. 1760=65) Oil on canvas (127 x 101 cm) National Museum of Wales (To enlarge the image, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab") Richard Myddelton (1726-1795) could well be considered the quintessential MP, as he did not do anything at all, mind you MPs in …
From Rags to Riches
JEAN-MARC NATTIER (1685-1766) Empress Catherine I of Russia (1717) Oil on canvas (142 x 110 cm) The Hermitage, St. Petersburg (To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab") This is a painting of no exceptional artistic merit. The fact that is here is due to its value as a …
An English Diplomat
ANTON RAPHAEL MENGS (1728=1779) Louis de Visme (1762-67) Oil on canvas (129 x 83 cm) Christ Church College, Oxford (To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab") Another example of Mengs' excellence as a portraitist. The portrait must have been painted between 1762 and 1767, the years when de …
The Earl of Chesterfield
WILLIAM HOARE RA (1707-1792) Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield Pastel on paper (66.7 x 48.6 cm) Location unknown To enlarge the images, right-click on them and choose "Open in a new tab" William Hoare is the kind of artist that deserves to be better known. Unfortunately, for him, he was the contemporary of Sir …
An Irish Gentleman
ANTON RAPHAEL MENGS (1728-1759) William Burton Conyngham Pastel on paper (65 x 48.5 cm) Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab") Pastel was a very popular medium among artists in the XVIII century. Mengs had made his name as a pastelist in Dresden, …
The Aristocratic Musician
JEAN-MARC NATTIER (1685-1766) Francis Greville, 8th Baron Brooke, later 1st Earl of Warwick (1741) Oil on canvas (137 x 107 cm) Private collection (To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab") Jean-Marc Nattier is almost unknown to the majority of English-speaking art lovers, This is a consequence of the …
The Noble Musician
POMPEO BATONI (1708-1787) John Montagu, Marquess of Monthermer (1758) Oil on canvas (96.5 x 71 cm) The Duke of Buccleuch (To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab") In my previous post, The Marquess of Monthermer, I mentioned that the young Lord Brudenell commissioned portraits from Batoni and Mengs. …
The Marquess of Monthermer
ANTON RAPHAEL MENGS (1728-1779) John Brudenell-Montague, later Marquess of Monthermer (1758) Oil on canvas (244 x 171 cm) The Duke of Buccleuch (To enlarge the image, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab") John Lord Brudenell (1735-1770), who wore the title of Marquess of Monthermer from 1766, was the only son of …
Old Masters 