18th Century Portrait Paintings

St. Peter Italian, 18th century oil on canvas, laid on panel panel: 9.75 x 8 inches Provenance: private collection, Paris Condition: very good condition For more any more informati...

ARTIST: Circle of Michael Dahl (1659-1743) Swedish / English TITLE: "Portrait of Mrs Wyndham" SIGNED: unsigned MEDIUM: oil on canvas laid to board SIZE: oval 75cm x 63cm and frame...

Willem van Kessel (c.1691–1727) – Portrait of a Bewigged Gentleman in Armour, 1713 A highly decorative and striking oil painting depicting a bewigged gentleman clad in a suit of arm...

A beautiful late 18th or very early 19th century English oil on copper portrait of a gentleman with his hound. Excellent quality Georgian period work which is unusually painted on c...

This superb British 18th century Old Master portrait oil painting is attributed to Thomas Hudson. Painted circa 1750 it is a three-quarter length standing portrait of a gentleman in ...

Portrait of Mrs Bonne Wilson (nee Boileau 1749 - 1818) English School, late 18th century oil on canvas, framed framed: 22.5 x 18.5 inches canvas : 18 x 14 inches Provenance: private ...

Portrait of a Noble Lady French School, early 1700's period oil painting on copper, unframed copper: 5 x 3 inches condition: very good, minor paint fading and deteriation. provenanc...

The Madonna, Christ Child and St. John Italian Old Master, circa 1700's period oil painting on canvas, unframed Canvas: 28.5 x 24 inches conditon: overall very good for its age, a fe...

Portrait of a Lady French artist, Rococo period 18th century oil on canvas, framed framed: 15 x 12.5 inches canvas: 10.5 x 8.5 inches provenance: private collection, France condition...

French 18th century old master portrait of a majestic lady dressed "à la Turque" The sitter at the viewer with a kind and enigmatic smile and twinkling eyes. She looks elegant and kind, yet also has an intelligent and determined aura, reflecting the character of someone who is in charge of her own life and destiny. De Silvestre paid great attention to her spectacular outfit, which is striking in its portrayal of the sumptuous fabrics and their decorative richness. She is wearing a luxurious royal blue robe à la...

Follower of Johann Heinrich Tischbein the Elder (1722–1789) Man with Bagpipes oil on oak panel no signature 25 × 19 cm (9.8 × 7.5 in) 31 x 26 cm (12.2 x 10.2 in) This refined 18th...

Thomas Hudson (Devon 1701 - London 1779) Portrait of a senior naval officer, c. 1750s Probably a captain or admiral; half-length, holding a telescope, with a warship beyond Oil on canvas 91.3 x 71.1 cm.; (within frame) 114.3 x 93.8 cm. (Unsigned) Provenance: Christie’s, London, 22 November 1985, lot 105 (as Thomas Hudson); Private collection, United Kingdom; Haynes Fine Art, Broadway, Worcestershire; Where acquired, private collection, United States, 16 August 1988; Neal Auction, New Orleans, 14 September 2025, lot 302 (as Attributed to Thomas Hudson); Where acquired by Haveron Fine Art. Literature: Bridgeman Art Library, The Bridgeman Art Library (London: The Library, 1995), p. 89 Christie’s, London, Important English Pictures (London: Christie’s, 22 November 1985) Archival: Witt Library, Courtauld Institute of Art (no. 061487); Heinz Archive and Library, National Portrait Gallery, 1725-50, Thomas Hudson: Men Authentic (1) (Box) This attractive and quintessential half-length is exemplary of Hudson’s leading portrait practice, produced at the height of his decade-long dominance over the London market beginning in 1749. Typical of Hudson's 1750s output, the portrait was likely made after his five-week visit to Rome and Naples, and bares the stylistic merits of this continental excursion. Indeed, the trip seemed to fortify a gradual refinement of Hudson’s technique: namely the emphasis of directional brushstrokes, which sensitively follow the contours of the facial features. The resulting feathery quality is combined here with a striking chiaroscuro effect, which Hudson borrowed directly from Rembrandt. Amalgamating the rich colouring of the Rococo with a mannered Baroque posing, Hudson renders the senior naval officer with a characteristic presence. Resting one hand assuredly at his hip, the finely worked telescope illustrates the officer’s seniority; the warship sailing on the horizon beyond provides further indication of his commanding rank. The telescope is held by a hand modelled with sculptural poise, and the typically Van Dyck manner (seen elsewhere, e.g. Princess Amelia Sophia Eleonore of Great Britain, YCBA B2001.2.246) further illustrates Hudson's studied grounding. Despite the apparent stylistic placement of the work, an earlier date is possible, since the officer wears civilian clothes and not the naval officer’s uniform first introduced in 1747 (which officers afterwards invariably chose to be shown in). The officer has previously been suggested as Edward Henry Sartorius, of the prominent naval Sartorius family; however, this identification is improbable on biographical and documentary grounds. Hudson was regularly commissioned by leading naval officers, and produced highly satisfactory portraits praised for their great likeness and genteel swagger. He charged 24 guineas for a standard 50 x 40 inch half-length in the 1750s period, and the present work (somewhat smaller in size) would have cost not much less. Comparable works include those of Admirals of the Fleet George Anson, 1st Baron Anson, and Sir John Norris; Admiral Sir George Pocock; Admiral Sir Peter Warren; Vice-Admiral The Honourable John Byng; and Rear-Admiral Richard Tyrrell. The present portrait is particularly similar in composition to Hudson’s Portrait of a Flag Officer of The White Squadron, which similarly employs the narrative device of a telescope held at a dynamic angle across the composition, with a warship to the left side of the officer’s retracted arm. Thomas Hudson (Devon 1701 - London 1799) Thomas Hudson rose to become the leading British portraitist of the mid-18th century, albeit in close competition with his Scottish counterpart Allan Ramsay. Born in Devon, Hudson studied alongside George Knapton under Jonathan Richardson the Elder (marrying his daughter in 1725, expressly against Richardson’s wishes), and inherited a dignified formality jointly derived from Van Loo. His work is first recorded in 1728, and between 1730-40 he practised in Bath and the West Country, where in addition to portrait commissions, he was employed to retouch and reline old pictures. He returned permanently to London thereafter, and devised a series of stock poses to which he would return with variation throughout his career. Beginning in 1745 with the death of Richardson and the departure of Van Loo, Hudson became the city’s most successful portraitist, and embarked on ambitious defining works such as his Portrait of Theodore Jacobsen ‒ not drastically unlike the continental heights of Pompeo Batoni in conception. Profiting from his success, he relocated from Lincoln’s Inn Fields to a house in Great Queen Street previously inhabited by Van Loo, and one door down from Kneller’s old rooms. An exceptionally productive period began in 1749 which lasted until the late 1750s. Among this output were highly praised portraits of the Prince and Princess of Wales, commissions for most of the preeminent aristocrats, and superlative group portraits including Benn’s Club of Aldermen, and those of the Thistlethwayte, Marlborough and Radcliffe families. Hudson relocated to King Street, Covent Garden, operating a prolific studio operation which resulted in some four hundred paintings ‒ of which at least eighty were engraved. A prodigious assembly of young pupils included Sir Joshua Reynolds (1740-3), Joseph Wright of Derby (1751-3, 1756), Richard Cosway, John Hamilton Mortimer, and the drapery painters Joseph and Alexander van Aken (also employed by Ramsay). As one later reviewer expressed: ‘Hudson, his art may well display to sight / Who gave Mankind a Reynolds and a Wright’ (Miles, ‘Introduction’). The ambitious young Reynolds made many drawings from classical statuary under Hudson’s instruction, and wrote home that, ‘While doing this I am the happiest creature Alive (sic.)’ (Sweetser, p.12). However, he was later dismissed from his pupilage some two years prematurely for refusing to carry a painting to Van Aken’s studio in the rain. It was at this point that Reynolds returned to Plymouth (Devonport), and produced some thirty portraits of the local gentry (including one example presently owned by Haveron Fine Art). Hudson was one of a number of artists who congregated in Old Slaughter’s Coffee House, alongside Hogarth, Ramsay, Hayman, and Rysbrack. Together they supported Thomas Coram’s Foundling Hospital, of which they each belonged to the 600 governors (in whom Hudson met many of his future clients), and promoted the building as London’s first public space of artistic exhibition. He visited the Netherlands and France for five weeks in 1748 accompanied by St Martin’s Lane colleagues, and was arrested with Hogarth for making drawings of the Bastille fortifications. He afterwards stayed in Rome and Naples in 1752 with Roubiliac, meeting Reynolds twice on the return journey. He returned to England and bought a house at Cross Deep, Twickenham (upstream from Pope’s villa), and made an effective museum of the space. He lived there with his second wife, a wealthy widow named Mrs Fynes. Having been involved with early attempts to establish a royal academy of the arts, Hudson exhibited at the Society of Arts in 1761 and 1766, although he had effectively retired from painting by the latter date. His last painting was in 1767, and he died at Twickenham in January 1779 aged seventy-eight. Hudson was also exceptional for the extensive collection of artworks which he amassed during his lifetime. The collection was thoroughly impressive in extent, and included outstanding Old Masters: Breughel, Canaletto, van Dyck, Hals, Holbein, Kneller, Lely, Michelangelo, Parmigianino, Poussin, Raphael, Rembrandt, Rubens, Tintoretto, Titian, Vasari, and Velázquez. His earliest recorded purchase was in 1741, and he spent heavily at the sale of his father-in-law, even buying works jointly with Van Aken. Likewise, at the posthumous 1750 sale of Van Aken, Hudson spent £215 on the second day (nearly half that day’s sale total). As a pupil, Reynolds had been sent to bid for Hudson in Lord Oxford’s sale of 1742, and proudly recalled having been greeted with a handshake by Hudson’s friend Pope at another picture sale. Hudson also collected extensively from within his own generation, acquiring works by contemporaries including Gainsborough, Reynolds, Richardson, Rysbrack, Vanderbank, and his predecessor Van Loo. Following his death, the works were dispersed in two sales at Messrs. Langford, with the finer works sold at Christie’s in 1785 after the death of his second wife. However, his connoisseurship was not without flaw ‒ having outbid Benjamin Wilson for a Rembrandt drawing, Wilson etched and printed a new ‘Rembrandt’ plate...

Portrait of a Noble Lady English artist, mid 18th century circle of Thomas Gainsborough (English 1727-1788) oil on canvas, unframed canvas: 30 x 25 inches provenance: private collect...

This lovely British 18th century portrait oil painting, with excellent provenance, is attributed to circle of George Henry Harlow. Painted circa 1760, it is a standing half length po...

Late 18th Or Early 19th Century European Tradition. La Gamine. Androgynous Charm. Framed Oil On Canvas. Unsigned. Image size 15.6 inches x 11.6 inches ( 39.5cm x 29.5cm ). Frame size...

Portrait of an Aristocratic English Gentleman circle of Thomas Hudson (British (1701-1779) oil on canvas, framed framed: 53.5 x 45 inches painting: 45 x 40 inches provenance: private...

This superb British 18th century Old Master portrait oil painting is by William Williams of Norwich. It was painted circa 1780, after he had returned to England from in Philadelphia ...

Portrait of a Young Girl French Rococo School, 18th century, unsigned oil on canvas, framed Framed: 24 x 20 inches Canvas : 20 x 16 inches Provenance: private collection, France Con...

Artist/ School: Italian Old Master, 18th century Title: Angel and Saints appearing to figures, one dressed in a white ruff collar. Medium: oil on canvas...

David Morier (c.1705–1770 London) An equestrian portrait of Field Marshal Sir John Ligonier, 1st Earl of Ligonier (1680–1770) Oil on canvas Canvas size - 40 x 50 in Framed size - 48 ...

Artist/ School: English School, circa 1740's Title: Portrait of a Lady, traditionally identified as 'Anne of Chesterfield'. Medium: oil painting on canvas, framed Size: painting: ...

18th Century Military portrait of a young officer in Napoleonic period military dress. The painting is not signed but the subject is Major Alexander Brown. The work is oil on canvas later mounted on board and presented in a fine 'Regence style' carved gilt frame. There are labels to the back referring to the subject, 'Major Brown of Trinity' and a framers trade label from Edinburgh. A magnificent and imposing portrait of a young military officer in the prime of his life. His red uniform adorned with fine buttons, fringed epaulettes and high gilt collar. His ruddy complexion offset by his stylish hair, a quiff and swept forward to the sides as was the fashion at the time. Sir David Wilkie RA (18 November 1785 – 1 June 1841) was a Scottish painter, especially known for his portraits, including formal royal ones, and scenes from his travels to Europe and the Middle East. He painted successfully in a wide variety of genres, including historical scenes. His main base was in London, but he died and was buried at sea, off Gibraltar, returning from his first trip to the Middle East. He was sometimes known as the "people's painter". He was Principal Painter in Ordinary to King William IV and Queen Victoria. Apart from royal portraits, his best-known painting today is probably The Chelsea Pensioners Reading the Waterloo Dispatch of 1822 in Apsley House. Sir David Wilkie was actually admitted in 1799 (despite only being 14) through the influence of the Earl of Leven...

A delightfully elegant 18th-century tondo depicting a lady in pearls. The subject is rendered in exquisite detail and is captured in fine attire, typical of the Georgian period. Beau...

Artist/ School: 18/19th Century Spanish School Title :Head study of Christ Medium: oil painting on wood panel, period gilt framed panel : 6 x 5 inches Provenance: private collect...

John Vanderbank (London 1694 - London 1739) Portrait of an artistic Gentleman, c. 1720s Three-quarter-length, wearing a turban Oil on canvas 125.5 x 101.7 cm.; (within frame) 145.6...

18th Century French School Portrait of an Actress Oil on canvas 30 x 23 inches 36 x 30 inches, framed

French School 18th Century Portrait of a gentleman holding his hat Oil on paper transferred on wood panel 34 x 27 cm Not signed which is normal for this type of artwork In a beautifu...

Work on canvas Work re-lined Plaster and gilded wood frame 86 x 105 x 7 cm

Portrait of a Gentleman in a Red Coat and Periwig, c.1715-1725 Studio of Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646–1723) This portrait of a gentleman, presented by Titan Fine Art, is a fine and wel...

Portrait of a Lady in an White Silk Dress & Red Drapery Signed and Dated 1739 John Vanderbank (1694–1739) This is an exceptional, rare, and highly desirable late work by John Vander...

This sumptuous early 18th-century portrait by leading French artist Louis de Silvestre (1675-1760) depicts Baron Pierre de Gaultier, a nobleman and diplomat active during the final y...

Portrait of a Gentleman wearing a Ruff Collar Dutch/ French artist, 18th century oil painting on copper, unframed copper board : 6.75 x 5 inches provenance: private collection, UK co...

Friedrich Wigand (Russian, 1800-1853). Portrait of a Young Man, 1841. Oil on canvas, 12.5 x 16 inches. Framed measurement: 17 x 20.5 inches. Signed an...

Portrait of Mary Hooper (née Davie) in a Blue Dress & Seated in a Parkland c. 1715–1725 Jonathan Richardson the Elder (1667–1745) This portrait, presented by Titan Fine Art, is of p...

This stunning British 18th century Old Master portrait oil painting, with exceptional provenance, is by noted artist George Romney. It was painted in 1788, commissioned by James Evelyn of Felbridge as it is of his younger daughter Anne, aged 20 years old. James was a Doctor of Law and Anne's mother was his second wife, Jane. Felbridge house, Anne's home, was in the village of Godstone in Surrey. This superb oil painting is a seated portrait of Anne, wearing a white dress with a green sash, her forearms exposed and her hands in her lap. Anne is blessed with the most wonderful long auburn curly hair and is visually stunning. Her body is partly turned away from the artist/viewer and she is slightly gazing down at us with confident, clear eyes. Anne is pictured in a landscape with a dramatic sky behind her. Romney's brushwork on her dress, hair and the background is superb. The delicate detailing of her facial features is also stunning. Sometimes Old Master portraits can be a little staid, but this one of Anne with her wild auburn hair and bold look is just magnificent. This is a fantastic example of George Romney's work and of an 18th century British Old Master with exceptional detailed provenance. Name plate states: Anne, younger daughter of James Evelyn of Fellbridge Esq. 1788, aged 20. Romney. Provenance. With Charles Cecil Cope Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool (1784-1851) With The Hon. Henry Berkeley Portman (1860-1923), Later 3rd Viscount Portman; with Emma, Viscountess Portman (1862-1929) By 1926; with her daughter Lady Moyra Dawson-Damer (1897-1962) Thence by family descent. Painted in 1788. There are various labels verso. Mentioned in Lord Hawkesbury's Catalogues of Portraits at Compton Place and at Buxted Park, in Sussex, 1903, p.18, no. 3, at Buxted Park, as in the 'Dining Room, South Wall'. Further Bibliography: Gower (R. S.) Romney, London, 1904, p. 175 Kidson (Alex) George Romney, A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2015, I, p. 205, no. 422 (illus).Ward (Humphrey) and Roberts (William) Romney: A Biographical and Critical Essay, London: T Agnew & Sons, 1904, p. 51 Condition. Oil on canvas. Image size 30 inches by 24 inches and in good condition. Frame. Housed in an ornate gilt frame with name plate, 37 inches by 31 inches and in good condition. George Romney (1734-1802) was born in Dalton-on-Furness, Lancashire, on 15 December 1734, the third of the eleven children of John Romney and Anne Simpson. Leaving school at the age of eleven, he worked for eight years in his father's cabinetmaking workshop before being apprenticed to a local painter, Christopher Steele, with whom he served for two years, from 1755 to 1757, in Kendal, York, and Lancaster. He married a Kendal girl, Mary Abbot...

Sebastiano Conca (Gaeta 1680 – Naples 1764) circle Madonna and Child Oil on copper 26 x 20 cm In high-quality period frame 72 x 50 cm The work depicts the Madonna lovingl...

This captivating oil portrait from the late 18th to early 19th century depicts a mysterious charming young woman, painted by an unknown but clearly professional master, presumably Fr...

Oil on canvas 30 x 25 ⅛ inches; 762 x 638 mm Verso: after Sir Joshua Reynolds, a self-portrait Not signed Painted c. 1758 Collections: Philip Gell (1775–1842), Hopton Hall, Derbyshire; By inheritance at Hopton Hall to his daughter, Isabella, who married William Pole Thornhill, who renounced Hopton and its contents in favour of his kinsman, Henry Chandos-Pole-Gell (1829–1902); By descent to his son, Brigadier General Harry Chandos-Pole-Gell (1872–1934), who sold Hopton Hall in 1918 and moved the family to Newnham Hall, Northamptonshire; By descent to his son, Lt Colonel John Chandos-Pole (1909–1993), Newnham Hall; Thence by descent until 2015, when acquired By descent to 2015; Lowell Libson Jonny Yarker Ltd. Literature: Algernon Graves and Walter V. Cronin, A History of the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds P.R.A., London, 1901, IV, p. 1394. David Manning...

This rather special Italian Old Master religious portrait oil painting is attributed to a follower of Giovanni Battista Salvi, or Sassoferrato as he is better known. Painted circa 17...

Portrait Of A Man, 17th/18th Century after Franciabigio (1482-1525) Large 17th/18th Century Italian renaissance portrait of a Florentine Man, oil on canvas. Excellent quality and c...

This lovely Italian Old Master portrait oil painting is by Domenico Maria Sani. Painted circa 1732 the sitter is of Maria Anna Vittoria (1718 - 1788), daughter of Philip V and Elisabetta Farnese, who in 1729 married Joseph prince of Brazil and king of Portugal...

This fine French Old Master portrait oil painting on canvas dates to circa 1770 and is attributed to the circle of Elizabeth Vigee Le Brun. The sitter is Madam van Robais. The van R...

Artist/ School: Manner of Guido Reni (1575-1642) Italian Title: The Prophecy of Simeon Medium: oil painting on canvas, unframed Painting: 21.5 ...

US buyers pay no import tariffs on this painting. This early 18th-century English School portrait depicts Thomas Stanley wearing a striking red velvet suit, white cravat and powdere...

This superb large three quarter length British Old Master portrait in a landscape oil painting is attributed to circle of John Vanderbank the Younger. Painted circa 1738 the sitter is Mrs James Hoste of South Wootton and Sandringham, nee Hammond. She was the daughter of Anthony Hamond and Susan Walpole, daughter of Robert Walpole, and was sister to Robert, 1st Earl of Oxford. She married Major James Hoste of Sandringham, Norfolk, and they had two daughters. The sheen of her blue satin dress against her gold cloak is stunning. A really lovely 18th century portrait with excellent provenance. Inscribed with sitter details lower left. Provenance. By descent within the family of the sitter at West Acre High House, Norfolk; Cheffins, Cambridge, 'West Acre High House' sale, 24 November 2010, Lot 519; Wood Hall, Arkesden, Essex. Literature: 'Portraits in Norfolk Houses', Prince Duleep Singh, 1927, No. 36. Sitter's details on two labels verso. Condition. Oil on canvas, image size is 50 inches by 40 inches and in good condition. Frame. Housed in an ornate gilt frame, 58 inches by 48 inches framed and in good condition. John Vanderbank (1694-1739) was an English portraitist and book illustrator, who enjoyed a high reputation for a short while during the reign of King George...

Italian School, 18th century Depicted are the Madonna and Child Jesus, the virgin Mary is holding the Child Jesus lovingly in her arms. The child, lying on a bundle of cloth and with...

Portrait of an Architect at His Desk, 1798 Oil on canvas, relined. Signed “C A Lorentzen 1798.” The composition depicts an architect seated at his desk, surrounded by drawings and pa...

Circle of Thomas Hudson (1701-1779) British. 18th Century Bust Portrait of a Lady, Oil on Canvas, Inscribed on a label verso, canvas: 30" x 25" (76.2 x 63.5cm). frame: 30 x 25 in...

We are pleased to offer a captivating portrait, most likely painted in the late 18th century, attributed to an artist within the circle of Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich. This oil ...

Portrait Of A Nude Male, 18th Century School of Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) 18th Century French School portrait of a nude male, oil on paper laid to board. Excellent quality an...

Pierre Charles Trémolières (Cholet, 1703 - Paris, 1739) Allegory of Painting and Drawing Oil on canvas 86 x 112 cm In original lacquered frames 122 x 95 cm. Work accompanied...

This lovely 18th century Old Master portrait oil painting is attributed to the circle of noted portrait artist Enoch Seeman. Seeman came from Poland to England as a youngster with hi...

A very fine portrait of a British military officer signed and dated Thomas Beach 1774 in the lower left. This oil on canvas is presented in a period gilt frame and is ready to hang. ...

Jacques-Francois Delyen (1684-1761), Court Painter of King Louis XV. A Magnificent Pair of Palatial "French Royal" Allegorical Paintings "Aurora and Diana" "Night and Day" A truly ...

Portrait of Lady Mary Burke, later Wife of Edward Southwell, 2lst Baron, three-quarter length seated, wearing Red Coat and Fur Robes, a Landscape beyond Signed Oil on canvas 55 x ...

French school of the second half of the 18th century Oil on canvas 46 x 38 cm (57 x 49 cm with the frame) Very beautiful frame in gilded wood from the Louix XVI period with decoratio...

Marianne Loir (Paris 1705 – Paris 1783) Presumed Portrait of Jean-Jacques-Blaise Baloin de Belvèse, Baron de Vennac (?-1781) Oil on oval canvas H. 54.5 cm; W. 46 cm Unsigned Grandda...

A masterful copy by an unknown artist, after the portrait of "Beatrice d'Este" by Leonardo Da Vinci also known as ‘Portrait of a Lady’ or ‘La Dama con la reticella di perle (The Lady With a Pearl Hairnet)’. The original work originally created in the 15th Century is currently on display in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana Museum of Milan. Beatrice d'Este was the Duchess of Bari/Milan and was believed to be one of the most attractive princesses of the Renaissance. Her impeccable style won her many admirers throughout Italy and France, and she became a trendsetter of the highest order. This copy of the original painting, is an oil on canvas done in the 18th Century, and in this exquisite portrait, the artist has masterfully depicted the fine details with draped hair, pearls, royal dress, ornate headgear and sumptuous jewelry in front of a dark background. Once again, capturing the imagination with another enigmatic smile. It comes housed in an elegant period giltwood frame with ebonized trims and ready to be displayed with hanging wire on verso. Art measures 28 x 18 inches Frame measures 34.5 x 24.5 inches There is much debate and controversy over who actually painted the "Beatrice d'Este" was it Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), or Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis (1455–1508). So we may never know who executed the original portrait which hangs in the museum, but that need not deter from an appreciation of its singularity. Following the portraiture convention established by painters of the Quattrocentro, the artist has chosen to portray his sitter in profile. In doing so, he magnificently captures the essence of his sitter, a girl on the threshold of womanhood. Bedecked in the adornments—silk, velvet, pearls and embroidery (brocade) crafted of spun gold threads—afforded her by birthright and marriage, Beatrice looks forward in noble serenity. And at the same time her profile with its upturned nose and slight smile betrays an innocence that must have been the basis of the oft-repeated epithet: la più zentil donna in Italia” (“the sweetest lady in Italy”). It is believed the lady is Beatrice d'Este (1475-1497), duchess of Bari and later of Milan, the wife of Ludovico Sforza (known as "il Moro"). One of the most beautiful princesses of the Italian Renaissance, she was known for her good taste in fashion. Beatrice was a member of the Este-Sforza family, which joined by marriage two of the oldest reigning and already powerful houses in Italy. The house of Este, which held court in Ferrara, traced its lineage to the 11th century Dukes of Saxony and Bavaria. Beatriceʼs father, Ercole I ruled the Ferrara commune for 34 years, catapulting the city-state (and the Estes with it) to an unmatched level of economic prosperity and cultural prominence. The family was renowned for its love of letters and patronage of the arts. The first time Leonardo da Vinci’s name resounded in the Ambrosiana, it was through the pen of its founder, Cardinal Federico Borromeo, who attributed this little panel to the great Master, describing it as “A portrait of a Duchess of Milan, by the hand of Leonardo”. Following the Cardinal’s statement, the portrait was for long assumed to depict Beatrice d’Este, the wife of Ludovico il Moro. However, scholars have recently been more cautious and vague in their statements, with regard to both the artist (anonymous Lombard or Emilian...

US buyers pay no import tariffs on this item. This large early 18th-century full-length portrait depicts a seated young lady before a classical column and distant country house. It ...

Oil on canvas 50 x 40 inches; 127 x 101.6 cm Framed dimensions: 151.5 x 127 cm Inscribed on plinth: ‘VOTIS X ET XX’ Not signed Painted c.1748 Collections: Christie’s London, 23rd December 1954, lot.272; J. Singer; Somerville Simpson Ltd, London, by 1985; The Matthiesen Gallery, London; Richard Feigen, New York; Matthew Rutenberg, New York to 2019; Lowell Libson and Jonny Yarker Ltd. Literature: Stella Rudolph, La Pittura del’ 700 a Roma, Milan, 1983, reproduced pl.133; Jacob Simon, Handel, a celebration of his life and times 1685-1759, exh. cat. London, (National Portrait Gallery), 1985, no.196; Catherine Whistler, Baroque Later Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, London, 2016, pp.102-105, reproduced p.104 Exhibited: London, National Portrait Gallery, Handel, a celebration of his life and times 1685-1759, 1985-86, no.196, reproduced p.198 This powerful portrait of the antiquarian and courtier Sir Charles Frederick was completed in 1748 by the Roman painter Andrea Casali. Frederick, as comptroller of the royal laboratory, one of the ‘great officers’ of the Board of Ordinance at Woolwich, had just been responsible for the famed pyrotechnic display celebrating the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle: the so-called ‘Royal Fireworks’ for which George Frederick Handel composed music. Casali’s portrait pays tribute to Frederick’s role as comptroller of the royal laboratory, showing him with a firing diagram and mortar, it also points to Frederick’s interests as an antiquarian with the inclusion of antique relief. Casali had first met Frederick in Rome in 1738, where he had painted his portrait, Frederick subsequently encouraged Casali to travel to London. This probably accounts for the unusual format; rather than a modern man of science, Casali casts Frederick as an alchemist bent on some mystic discovery, as such, it is one of the most unusual portraits of the period. Andrea Casali was a pupil of Sebastiano Conca and then of Francesco Trevisani, who recommended him to the Spanish court in 1736. He enjoyed some success in Rome as a painter of frescoes and altarpieces, notably a large cycle of Scenes from the Life of St Dominic at the cloister of S. Sisto Vecchio, for which he was made a Knight of the Golden Spur in 1729. Casali began painting Grand Tourist portraits in Rome around 1738. His first portrait of Sir Charles Frederick is dated that year Ashmolean Museum, Oxford), it casts Frederick as a focused scholar, showing him seated at an elaborately carved console table, hard at work. In common with other Grand Tour portraiture of the period, Casali includes a famous Roman landmark in the background, in this case the façade of the Pantheon. Horace Walpole noted that it was thanks to the encouragement of ‘Mr Frederick and his Friends at Rome’ that Casali travelled to London in 1741. Charles Frederick was a fascinating Augustan polymath. Born at Fort St George, Madras, where his father, Sir Thomas Frederick, was governor, he successively matriculated at New College, Oxford (1725), was called to the Middle Temple (1728), became a Fellow of the Royal Society (1731) and Director of the Society of Antiquaries (1735). His interests were wide ranging. Frederick was an amateur architect, he designed the monument to Lucy, Lady Lyttleton, in Hagley Church and the monument to Thomas Miller, bishop of Waterford, in Highclere church, Hampshire. He was a numismatist and collector of antiquities, as well as an amateur scientist. It was in the last capacity that he was appointed comptroller of the royal laboratory at Woolwich and clerk of the deliveries in 1746, this was the most junior of the ‘great officers’ who made up the membership of the royal Board of Ordnance. This appointment came through the good offices of the master-general of the Ordnance, a fellow antiquarian, John, 2nd Duke of Montagu. As comptroller, Frederick was responsible for the fireworks celebration of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, for which Handel composed his celebrated music. As Horace Walpole wrote to his cousin, Henry Seymour Conway: ‘Charles Frederick has turned all his virtu into fireworks, and, by his influence with the Ordnance has prepared such a spectacle for the proclamation of Peace as is to surpass all its predecessors of bouncing memory. It is to open with a concert of fifteen hundred hands, and conclude with so many thousand crackers all set to music, that all the men killed in the war are to be wakened with a crash, as if it was the day of judgement, and fall a-dancing, like the troops in the Rehearsal. I wish you could see him making squibs of his papillotes, and bronzed over with a patina of gunpowder, and talking himself still hoarser on the superiority that his fireworks will have over the Roman naumachia.’ Performed in Green Park, the fireworks were mounted on a temporary structure designed by the architect Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni decorated by Adrea Soldi and Casali. Casali’s second portrait of Frederick was completed following the success of the firework display. In this remarkable image, we discover Frederick at work, dressed in almost monastic garb, pouring over an impossibly large tome propped on an antique altar. The altar is identifiable as a Roman relief depicting Victory writing on a shield, the original is at Villa Medici in Rome, but was engraved by Pietro Santi Bartoli...