The usual static presentation has been abandoned in favour of one of one of baroque movement and depicts the unidentified gentleman as if he has just turned to gaze directly at the viewer. Unlike earlier portraits this man is informally dressed, wearing only a shirt and a dark fur cloak. A long section of his hair has been drawn into a 'lovelock', a Court fashion of the 1630s.
A similar portrait of a different sitter, signed 'C.J. 1632' is in the Huntington Library and Art Collections, San Marino, California.
CORNELIUS JOHNSON (Jonson, Jansen, Van Ceulen) 1593-1661, was born in London, the son of Flemish emigres.
Although Waterhouse thought he was trained in Holland it seems more likely (as Collins Baker has it) that Marcus Gheeraerts was his master in London.
Johnson is the most satisfying and 'English' of the portraitists working in England in the 1620s and 30s. He has a fine technique with a restrained and introspective style.
His accurate portraits are never flattering but a sober and objective portrayal of his usual sitters: the gentry and lesser nobility. His style, and that of his Circle, is easily identified by its coolness and restraint.
In 1632 he was made Painter to the King, but his wife's fears of the approaching Civil War caused him to retire to Holland in 1643. He continued to paint for the rest of his life, but was reportedly ruined by the extravagance of his second wife and died a poor man in Utrecht in 1661.
SIZE:(canvas)29.5 x 24.5 inches.
37 x 32 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE: Private Collection, Oxfordshire.
Roy and nadine precious: specialists in portraiture from the 16th to the 20th century. Established in 1972.
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Portrait of a Gentleman C. 1635; Circle of Cornelius Johnson.
