This exquisite large-scale portrait hung in Kirtlington Park, Oxfordshire - the family seat of the Dashwood family for almost 200 years. The dining room was widely regarded as one of the most beautiful Rococo rooms in England.We are grateful to Dr. Malcolm Rogers who has attributed the work to John Closterman and dated the work to the 1690s, exclaiming “It is an entirely characteristic work of the first phase of Closterman’s independent activity.”This striking portrait was painted by the leading late-seventeenth century court painter John Closterman (Johann Kloosterman) circa 1695. The sitter is portrayed in a standard gentlemanly pose for the period with one arm on his hip and the other resting on a stone ledge, but what is striking is its study of the sitter’s attitude. It demonstrates the sharp characterisation that is distinctive in the work of this painter. The formula employed in this portrait appears frequently in his work – the brown/orange robes, a curtain, a column...