Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this 18th Century Oil Portrait to the 18th Century.
There was an old label to this effect on the back of the frame, now unfortunately lost.
The sitter wears a costly silk robe, very fashionable for informal wear, yet he retains his formal wig for his portrait. The statement being made is all to do with wealth and status. He is depicted writing, an indication that he was of a literary inclination.
The Bishops were a Cornish gentry family, possessed of several estates. However, when Anne Bishop, sole daughter and heiress of James Bishop Esq, of Lower Tre-Kyninge, married Hugh Rogers Esq, High Sheriff of Cornwall, in 1770, all Bishop possessions passed to the Rogers family.
In late 2018 Charles Rogers of Penrose House died, and in 2019 this portrait and others were sold.
This portrait is not signed by the artist, but others in the collection were, and it is obvious that the same hand was responsible. The signature was 'B. Burghende'. This was Bartholomeus van Burgindis, a Dutch artist, working from 1663-1703. He painted many of the Cornish gentry and one of his portraits is in The Royal Cornwall Museum; Dr. Nathaniel Spry, dated 1703.
SIZE: 34 x 31.75 inches including the frame.
PROVENANCE: By descent through the Bishop and Rogers families of Penrose Estate, Porthleven, Cornwall.
Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this 18th Century Oil Portrait to the 18th 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 Member of the Bishop Family C.1703, by Bartholomeus Van Burgindis.
