Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this piece to the 18th Century.
A fine and utterly characteristic example of Dahl's best work; the sitter has real personality...she is not a bland fashion plate with a doll-like face...but a woman of intelligence who regards us with a level gaze.
Dahl’s works are frequently distinguished by a greater attention to the character of the sitter than those of his rivals, and he particularly allowed a softer aspect to the surfaces of his sitter’s costume and drapery. His colours are silvered and luminous, and there is a great charm and sensitivity in the overall expression of the sitter. In this example, the sitter’s turned head impart a subtle sense of movement. She wears the fashionable 'undress' of the time, the material of her clothing being painted with consummate skill.
MICHAEL DAHL (1659 - 1743).
Dahl was a painter of exceptional talent and regarded as the only really serious rival to Sir Godfrey Kneller, for royal patronage, during the years 1690-1714. Dahl's patterns were undoubtedly indebted to the fashion set by Kneller, but Dahl had a lighter palette, his brushwork applied in shorter and more careful strokes.
His self portrait hangs in the National Portrait Gallery and he is famed for having painted a series of wonderful female portraits for the Duke of Somerset, now at Petworth House, and known as the Petworth Beauties.
Dahl's portraits of members of the royal family hang at Kensington Palace and Windsor and other examples of his work can be found at the Tate and National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
SIZE: 37.5 x 32 x 2 inches framed (95 x 81 x 5 cm)
Canvas size; 30 x 25 inches (76.2 x 63.5 cm)
PROVENANCE: Private Collection, England
Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this piece 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 Lady C.1720, by Michael Dahl
