An Absolutely Beautiful Georgian Portrait of a Young Seated Gentleman Looking intently at Us

THE STORY - I confess it is very difficult to ignore the beauty of the face of this gentleman as he looks ever so slightly arrogantly at us, but it wasn't that face that stole my heart although it came a very close second, it was power of the piece as a whole with the immediacy of the brush strokes and pen & ink lines of the body; we can almost feel the hand of the artist moving quickly across the page creating this wonderful image. The painting would I imagine date to the first couple of decades of the 1800s; it is executed in both water and pen and ink on paper. The face as you can see is finely painted with wonderful detail in watercolour, but the body is looser, more immediate and not overly worked upon, just sketched in pen and ink and blocked in watercolour. At the joining point of the two styles is the black cravat he is wearing, which is just a block of colour, it almost feels like his head is on a plinth. But what I didn't realise until I was photographing him was the wonderful detail of the differing sides of the collar of his shirt; on one side the collar raises above his chin whilst on the other it is flat, a minor detail possibly but a detail that gives an extra sense of realism to the portrait. The paintings sits in what I believe to be its original wooden frame which is of a beautiful honey coloured wood. On the back of the frame I had to apply fresh tape as the original tape was hanging off there was a sticker for Stephen Long Antiques, Fulham Road, London. Of course I researched this gentleman who although sadly no longer with us his reputation as an Antiques Dealer is with his wonderful eye, so I pulled off the sticker from the old tape as I feel it is part of this paintings history.

AGE - Circa 1820.

CONDITION - Both the painting and the frame are in good condition. The painting is clear of any foxing or dirt that I can see, although there is a faint black diagonal line that goes across his lapel to the shoulder resting on the chair, which I cannot work out if it has always been there are not. And as I have already mentioned above I have put new tape on the back of the frame attaching that Stephen Long sticker to it. The glass in the frame looks to be free of any scratches, the hanging ring looks to be stable but certainly is a later addition.

DIMENSIONS (Approx) - Framed - Height 11&1/2" / 29cm, Width 9&1/4" 23.5cm, Depth 1" / 2.25cm. Image Size - height 8&1/4" / 21cm, Width 6" / 15cm

I love this portrait there is such an intimacy to it and I find myself wondering who the portrait was for, was it for the Artist, the Subject or Another; for some reason I think it was for the Artist, indeed it may have been a preparatory study for a later painting. And I smile as I think that young was not one to sit around patiently having his portrait painted he would be off to the next new and exciting adventure. I just hope he straightened his collar out before he got there!