Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this Georgian Oil Portrait Painting to the 18th Century.
The dress would have been painted by Joseph van Aken, the noted specialist drapery painter. Drapery painters were specialist painters who completed the dress, costumes and other accessories worn by the subjects of portrait paintings. They worked for portrait painters with a large clientele. Van Aken was recognised as one of the foremost drapery painters active in mid-18th-century England and was employed in that capacity by many leading and lesser known portrait painters of his time.
ElLIZABETH PAPILLON was born in 1724 and baptised on the 11th October, 1724 at St. Martin's Church, Acrise, Kent, England. She was the daughter of David Papillon (Fellow of the Royal Society and Member of Parliament) and Mary Keyser.
On the 18 Apr 1748 Rev. Thomas Curteis, Clerk, Rector of Sevenoaks, Kent, widower, (aged 30) married Elizabeth Papillon (aged 23) in the Diocese of Rochester, Kent, England.
A memorial on the floor of Sevenoaks Church, in black marble: "Beneath this marble are deposited the remains of the Rev'd Thomas Curteis, D.D. Who departed this life April the 27th, 1775, aged 69.”
“Likewise of Elizabeth his wife, who departed this life Sept. 1st 1786, Aged 62. Also the remains of Ann their Daughter, who died March 24th 1763, Aged 5 years and 8 months."
GEORGE KNAPTON (1668-1778) was an English portrait painter and the first portraitist for the Society of Dilettanti in the 1740s. He became Surveyor and Keeper of the King's Pictures from 1765 to 1778.
Knapton's largest painting was that of The Family of Frederick, Prince of Wales (1751, Royal Collection). He also painted portraits of the Earl of Upper Ossory (with his brother and sister), the Earl of Burlington, Admiral Sir John Norris, Francis, Fifth Duke of Leeds, Admiral George Vandeput, Archibald Bower, Nicolas Tindal, Hildebrand Jacob, Admiral Edward Hawke, and the singers Carestini and Lisabetta du Parc. For his portraits, he employed the specialist drapery painter Joseph Van Aken to paint the dresses and costumes of his sitters.
SIZE:38 x 32 inches including the frame.
PROVENANCE: From a Private Collection in France. The owner had bought the portrait at auction (Stephen Weisz) in Johannesburg; it had been consigned by a member of the Curteis family who lived in the area.
Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this Georgian Oil Portrait Painting to the 18th Century.
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Portrait of Elizabeth Curteis (Nee Papillon), 1748, by George Knapton.
