A Late 17th Century Portrait Oil on Canvas

Stock No.4296

A fine late 17th early 18th century oil on canvas portrait of a young gentleman set in a carved giltwood frame painted in the manner of John Michael Wright (1617-1694) which has been tentatively attributed to him in the past.

The young gentleman is wearing a blue velvet coat decorated with gold wire brocade in scrolled floral and cockade patterns, with two clasps set with semi-precious stones. The chiffon choker or cravat is very restrained and unpretentious. He is possibly French but his modest and sensible appearance, his attire and his peaches and cream complexion suggest he is more likely to be English or Scottish and was probably a young country gentleman.

Notes: John Michael Wright was an English portrait painter who was apprenticed to George Jamesone in Edinburgh from 1636–41, then spent a long period abroad, chiefly in Rome, where in 1648 he became a member of the Accademia di S. Luca, the only British painter of the 17th century to have this distinction.

Further Notes of Interest: The frame is carved giltwood late 18th century, a little too big for the painting but has been adequately packed out behind. Part of torn label on the back is that of an art packer and shipper Andre Chenue, still in existence in Paris , but in the 1960/70s they had a small warehouse in St Martins Lane in London run by two elderly Parisian ladies. There is a torn second label on the back with the Continental figure 9 not the usual English 9 along with numerous auctioneers chalk marks indistinctly visible on the frame. There is also a stencilled inventory number on the back of the stretcher crossbar - JE 677. The 7’s are not Continental crossed so this may be an English inventory number from a gallery or collection. The painting is still in very sound condition and has been restretched and relined with linen on the back in the distant past. It has also been re-laquered many years ago, probably during the 19th century.

	width	height
	33 1⁄2" 85 cms	39 3⁄8" 100 cms

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