JACQUES-ANDRE-JOSEPH AVED (1702-1766) Portrait of Madame Crozat (1741) Oil on canvas (138 x 100 cm) Musée Fabre, Montpellier To enlarge the image, right-click on it, the "Open in a new tab" Aved was one of the greatest French portraitists of the mid-18th century, ranking with Louis Tocqué (1696-1772), Jean-Marc Nattier (1685-1766), Hubert Drouais (1699-1766), Maurice …
Tag: Portrait
A Masterpiece
NICOLAS DE LARGILLIERE (1656-1746) Self-Portrait (c. 1726) Oil on canvas (80 x 64 cm) Musée Fabre, Montpellier To enlarge the picture; right-click on it, then "Open in a new tab" Largillière, a Parisian educated in Antwerp showed at an early age great aptitudes for painting and was apprenticed to Antoine Goubau (1616-1698). He became a …
Alphonse Leroy
JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID (1748-1825) Portrait of Alphonse Leroy (c. 1783) Oil on canvas (73 x 95 cm) Musée Fabre, Montpellier To enlarge the picture, right-click on it, the "Open in a new tab" A student of Joseph-Marie Vien, David was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1774 and went there with Vien from 1775 to 1780. …
A Scholar and a Gentleman
ALLAN RAMSAY (1713-1784) Robert Wood (1755) Oil on canvas (98 x 74 cm) National Gallery, London Robert Wood (1716-1771), was a classical scholar, archaeologist and politician; educated at the University of Glasgow. After early travels in France, Italy and the Middle East. he joined John Bouverie and James Dawkins on their expedition to Asia Minor and Greece, …
Portrait of a Philosopher
ALLAN RAMSAY (1713-1784) David Hume (1766) Oil on canvas (76 x 63.5 cm) Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh David Hume (1711-1776), eminent Scottish philosopher and historian, one of the greatest figures of the Enlightenment, son of Joseph Home of Ninewells and Catherine Falconer, attended the University of Edinburgh at the unusual age of twelve, at a time …
A Scottish Lady
ALLAN RAMSAY (1713-1784) Anna Bruce of Arnot (1767-68) Oil on canvas (74 x 62 cm) National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh Allan Ramsay was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of Allan Ramsay Sr, poet and the author of The Gentle Shepherd. He started his artistic education at the Academy of St. Luke in Edinburgh; at …
Portrait of Gaspard Schoppius
PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577-1640) Portrait of Gaspard Schoppius (c. 1604-05) Oil on canvas (116 x 88 cm) Palazzo Pitti, Florence To enlarge the picture, right-click on it, then "Open in a new tab" This portrait has only recently received acceptance as an early work by Rubens, and this attribution, together with the painting's resemblance to an …
Portrait of a Knight of Malta
CARAVAGGIO (1571-1610) Portrait of a Knight of Malta (c. 1608) Oil on canvas (118 x 95 cm) Palazzo Pitti, Florence To enlarge the picture, right-click on it, then "Open in a new tab" The Portrait of a Knight of Malta is one of the works that the Italian scholar Mina Gregori has convincingly identified as …
Portrait of a Young Knight
LUDOVICO CARDI (known as IL CIGOLI) 1559-1613 Portrait of a Young Knight (1594) Oil on canvas (78 x 62 cm) Palazzo Pitti, Florence The Florentine artist Ludovico Cardi, better known as Il Cigoli was a pupil of the late Mannerist painter Alessandro Allori (1535-1607) and of the architect Bernardo Buontalenti (1536-1608). He was born in …
Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel
PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577-1640) Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel (c. 1629) Oil on canvas (67 x 54 cm) National Gallery, London To enlarge the picture, right-click on it, then "Open in a new tab" Within the different genres covered by the Old Masters, portraiture is my favourite. In the hands of its finest practitioners …
Old Masters 