Portrait Halls

The British artist Joshua Reynolds painted this formal portrait of a Member of Parliament, Charles Churchill, in 1755. Reynolds shows him as a gentleman of leisure in the countryside. The artist experimented with technique, and that had its drawbacks. Churchill didn't actually look like death warmed over; the look of the painting results from unstable red pigments and glazes that have long since vanished, leaving an undercoat that leaves the subject appearing pallid.

The American artist Benjamin West, who would end up spending his productive life as an artist in Britain, painted this self portrait around 1776. It started out as a copy of another self portrait, but West took it in a different direction. The other self portrait, now in a Baltimore gallery, is featured on the panel beside the painting.

Dutch artist Peter Lely also spent most of his career in Britain, esteemed as a portrait artist. Around 1647 he produced this portrait, Sir Edward Massey. The subject, who served in the House of Commons, was a member of the Parliamentary Army during the English Civil War, before switching sides and ending up with the Royalists. 

Charles I As Prince Of Wales is an oil portrait by Dutch artist Daniel Mytens the Elder, who served as a court artist for the English court. Painted in 1624, the year before Charles ascended to the monarchy, the large portrait shows the ill fated royal in full decorated glory.

British artist Thomas Gainsborough painted The Reverend William Stevens around 1780. The minister was personal chaplain to the Duke of Cumberland, and preached at St. George's, Hanover Square.

Greek mythology inspires this dramatic painting by the Flemish artist Thomas Willeboirts, also known as Bosschaert, and his workshop. The Death Of Adonis was painted at some point after 1642, and depicts Venus mourning the death of her mortal lover Adonis, wounded by a wild boar during his hunt. Her son Cupid is close by.

I finish today with an oil landscape. View Of Lake Nemi was painted in 1748 by French artist Claude-Joseph Vernet, and depicts a lake south of Rome.