Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this piece to the 17th Century.
... despite his fashionable full wig and cravat. This was characteristic of the period.
He is shown as if lost in thought, not looking at the viewer, but to one side; a pose favoured by those of a poetic or sensitive disposition.
JOHN MICHAEL WRIGHT (May 1617 - July 1694) Described variously as English and Scottish, Wright trained in Edinburgh under the Scots painter George Jamesone, and acquired a considerable reputation as an artist and scholar during a long sojourn in Rome. There he was admitted to the Accademia di San Luca. He took up permanent residence in England from 1656, and served as Court Painter before and after the English Restoration. A convert to Roman Catholicism, he was a favourite of the restored Stuart court, a client of both Charles II and James II. In the final years of the Stuart monarchy he returned to Rome.
Wright is currently rated as one of the leading indigenous British painters of his generation. Perhaps due to the unusually cosmopolitan nature of his experience, he was favoured by patrons at the highest level of society in an age in which foreign artists were usually preferred. Wright's paintings of royalty and aristocracy are included amongst the collections of many leading galleries today.
SIZE: 34.50 x 29.25 inches including the frame.
PROVENANCE: English Private Collection
Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this piece to the 17th Century.
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.1680; Follower of John Michael Wright.
