The sitter in this superb portrait is shown with the grandiloquence characteristic of the work of the Kersebooms (uncle and nephew). The subject has been elegantly portrayed wearing scarlet, the colour of distinction; the flamboyance and penetrating sense of character seems almost eclipsed by the artist''s virtuosic handling of paint in the face and the magnificent full-bottomed periwig - the height of fashion when this portrait was painted c.1700. The sitter’s strong sense of character almost lends an air of noble expectancy to the composition. In the late 17th century England’s upper classes entered a new era of prosperity. No longer the preserve of royalty, commissioned portraits - of oneself or one’s ancestors - became a coveted symbol of wealth and status and portraiture in England developed a distinctive ‘Englishness’. The portrait genre was valued particularly highly in English society. Neither landscapes nor allegorical pictures were ever priced so highly at exhibition...