ALEXANDER ROSLIN (1718-1793) César Gabriel de Choiseul-Chevigny, Marquis de Choiseul (1763-66) Oil on canvas (130 x 100) National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden To enlarge the picture, click on it and open it in a new tab César Gabriel de Choiseul-Chevigny (1712-1785), Marquess of Choiseul and later duke of Praslin was a soldier and a statesman who …
A Sad Affair
POMPEO BATONI (1708-1787) The Barrett-Lennard Family (1750) Oil on canvas (39 x 53 cm) Essex Record Office, Chelmsford, UK To enlarge the picture, click on it and "Open in a new window" This beautiful family portrait had a sad origin. Thomas Barrett-Lennard, 17th Baron Dacre (1717-1786) was the son of Richard Barrett and Anne Lennard, …
A Lady in Pink
ALEXANDER ROSLIN (1718-1793) Portrait of a lady in a pink dress (1755-1765) Oil on canvas (64 x 53) Private collection This portrait belongs to the first years of Roslin in France; this means the second half of the 1750s. We could say that this portrait symbolises the 18th century, particularly the period between 1750 and …
The Duke of Grafton
POMPEO BATONI (1708-1787) Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton (1762) Oil on canvas (76 x 61 cm) National Portrait Gallery, London Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton (1735-1811), styled Earl of Euston between 1747 and 1757, was a British Whig statesman of the Georgian era. He was one of the very few dukes …
Tha Aristocratic Engraver
ALEXANDER ROSLIN (1718-1793) The Count of Caylus (1753) Oil on canvas (190 x 93 cm) National Museum, Warsaw, Poland To enlarge the picture, click on it and "Open in a new window" Among the paintings exhibited by Roslin at the Salon of 1753 was the portrait of Anne-Claude-Philippe de Tubières, better known as the Count …
A French Statesman
FRANS POURBUS THE YOUNGER (1570-1622) Portrait of Guillaume du Vair (1616-1620) Oil on canvas (61 x 51 cm) Musée du Louvre To enlarge the picture, click on it and open it in a new window Some painters escape a clear categorisation; this is due to the fact that their works show an uneven quality that …
A Royal Masterpiece
SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE (1769-1830) Portrait of Queen Charlotte (1789) Oil on canvas (239 x 147) National Gallery, London To enlarge the picture, click on it and "Open in a new window" Over the centuries, some paintings, mainly portraits, have been rejected by the people who commissioned them despite their excellent quality. Eventually, time and fine …
The Beautiful Mrs Bewicke
SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE (1769-1830) Mrs Calverley Bewicke (1790-95) Oil on canvas (75 x 62 cm) Private collection To enlarge the picture, click on it and open it in a new window Around the time when Lawrence painted the portrait of his friend and benefactor, William Lock, he portrayed a beautiful woman named Margaret Bewicke (1762-1859). …
The Younger Linley
SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE (1769-1830) Portrait of William Linley (1787-89) Oil on canvas (76 x 63 cm) Dulwich Picture Gallery, London To enlarge the picture, click on it and "Open in a new window" William Linley (1771–1835) was one of seven musical siblings born to Thomas Linley the elder and his wife Mary Johnson. He was …
The Old Countess
SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE (1769-1830) Susannah Harley, Countess of Oxford (1790) Oil on canvas (127 x 101) Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland To enlarge the picture, click on it and "Open in a new window" Around 1790, Lawrence painted the endearing portrait of the elderly Countess of Oxford, Susannah Archer (1728-1804), who was the daughter of the …
Old Masters 