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Core Record |
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| Title | Portrait of an Eighteenth-Century Artist | |
| Collection | Middlesbrough Museums & Galleries | |
| Artist | Attributed to Dutch School | |
| Date Earliest | about 1670 | |
| Date Latest | about 1740 | |
| Description | This painting shows a seventeenth- or eighteenth-century artist. Unfortunately there are no clues as the identity of the sitter. However, the work tells us a great deal about the ways in which the artist wanted to be viewed. Dressed in what seems to be his best clothes, rather than the more practical garments you might expect a professional artist to wear, the sitter is clearly underlining his status as a well-off, and therefore successful, painter. He stands, holding a palette and brushes, behind of a statuette of a ancient hero or athlete; it is evident from this inclusion that the artist portrayed wished to be thought of as a ‘serious' artist, whose work was in the established classical tradition, and based on a long study of ancient art, particularly sculpture. The very dark background and use of chiaroscuro (extreme contrasts of light and dark) on the face suggests that the artist had studied the most famous portraitists of the Italian Renaissance, whose work was also known to be founded upon a similar history. In view of the manner of depiction, as well as the portrait itself, the painting could be a self-portrait. | |
| Current Accession Number | A0939 | |
| Former Accession Number | M67(O) | |
| Subject | portrait | |
| Measurements | 112.0 x 84 cm.0 cm (estimate) | |
| Material | oil on canvas | |
| Acquisition Details | Bequeathed by Mrs McGrigor-Philips in 1976. | |
| Notes | The painting is labelled as English School, but it could also be by a Dutch or Flemish artist, or even a Southern European painter. While the painting is traditionally dated as an eighteenth-century production, it could be an earlier work; paintings of gentlemen with statues precede this period. | |
| Rights Owner | MIMA, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art | |
| Author | Dr Ruth Stewart | |