Portrait of a Lady C.1750; Follower of Allan Ramsay (1713-1784)

This charming picture was painted around 1750 and is of a type favored by the extraordinarily successful artist, Allan Ramsay. Ramsay’s painting life, from 1732 to 1770, spanned the period in which British art established a national identity and throughout the period Ramsay, a well-educated Scotsman, familiar with contemporary Italian and French portraiture, played a dignified leading role.

The sitter has been portrayed in a luxurious silk dress, with a large bow on the bodice, and large gathered sleeves. The ubiquitous fashion accessory for centuries – pearls – are worn in abundance. Ramsay painted several similar portraits on this model in the 1740s and early 1750s and there are versions with the exact pose and attire from 1747 to 1753.

The treatment of the folds of fabric is exquisite. This portrait balances a Caledonian grace and restraint in the personification of the sitter with a rococo love of luxurious, pastel fabrics reflecting the light.

Ramsay was born in Edinburgh. He attended the new Academy of St Luke in Edinburgh and in London at St Martin's Lane Academy. From there he travelled to Italy and worked from 1736 to 1738 at the French Academy in Rome. In Italy he learned how to draw hands and graceful compositions and this was to have a big impact on his work. On his return he settled in London in 1738 and soon became the most elegant of the native British portraitists, and was at first patronised by the Scottish nobility in London. His work was imbued with a soft palette and was more delicate and sophisticated and his portraits of women in particular gained an air of elegance which proved immediately popular.

The commentator Alexander Gordon described him as ‘one of the first-rate portrait painters in London’ as early as December 1738. By then, the young painter was already charging eight guineas a head, some three guineas more than Reynolds was to charge when he settled in London some fifteen years later. He was chosen to be the official court painter to King George III and during his prime period he had a virtual monopoly on court painting. He had been extraordinarily successful and in 1747 he was able to purchase a small estate in Fife, and became known as Allan Ramsay of Kinkell.

Measurements: Height 88cm, Width 76.5cm framed (Height 34.5”, Width 30” framed)

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