JACOB FERDINAND VOET (1639-1689) Agostino Chigi, Principe di Farnese (c.1670) Oil on canvas (size unknown, probably 76 x 62 cm) Museum of Fine Arts and Lace, Alençon, France To enlarge the pictures, right-click on them and choose "Open in a new tab" When you look at a portrait by Jacob Ferdinand Voet, chances are that …
M. de Joly
ANTOINE VESTIER (1740-1824) M. Etienne de Joly (1795-96) Galerie Eric Coatalem, Paris Oil on canvas (81 x 65 cm) (To enlarge the picture, right click on it and chose "Open in another window") Here is another beautiful portrait by Antoine Vestier that shows the talent of this little-known French painter. Like the sitter in my …
A gentleman in red
POMPEO BATONI (1708-1787) A gentleman in a red coat (1758-60) Private collection Oil on canvas (99 x 74 cm) (To enlarge the picture, right click on it and chose "Open in a new window") Pompeo Batoni, one of the finest portrait painters in European history, is beginning to emerge from the darkness to which he …
A dashing war hero
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS (1723-1792) General Sir Banastre Tarleton (1782) National Gallery, London Oil on canvas (236 x 145 cm) (To enlarge the picture, right click on it and chose "Open in a new window") The man portrayed here was considered by his countrymen as a dashing war hero, while his former enemies, the American rebels, …
Handsome Jack
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS (1723-1792) Captain John Hayes St. Leger (1778) Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, Great Britain Oil on canvas (240 x 147 cm) (To enlarge the picture, right click on it and chose "Open in a new tab") John Hayes St. Leger (1756-1800) was a famous rake of the late 18th century. He was the son …
The Governor
ANTOINE VESTIER (1740-1824) Eugene Joseph Stanislas Foullon d'Ecotier (1785) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Oil on canvas (80 x 64 cm) (To enlarge the picture, right click on it and chose "Open in a new tab") Antoine Vestier was born in Avallon, Burgundy. Very little is known about his early years. By 1760 he …
Ottavio Leoni (1578-1630)
(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 …
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 …
Old Masters 