Portrait of a Flute Player

Image: Portrait of a flute player, attributed to Mather Brown, oil on canvas. Image: Frick Photo Archive. Here is a painting which must have an interesting history. It depicts a young black flute player, of c.1780-90, holding his instrument and sheet music in front of him. Attributed to the Anglo-American painter Mather Brown, I found……

Podcast: ‘To Hailes the picture drawers bill’

Picture: Francis Greville, 3rd Baron Brooke, by John Hayls, c.1657. Warwick Castle. The next podcast in the series created with Aaron Manning looks at the portrait of Francis Greville, 3rd Baron Brooke, painted by John Hayls which hangs in Warwick Castle. New research into the little studied account books show that Francis lived an extravagant……

The Candyman – A lost portrait revealed

Picture: Portrait of Cornelis Nuyts by Jurgen Ovens. LEFT – Formerly Warwick Castle. RIGHT – Doyle Auction House, New York. I recently decided to look into a lost portrait of an old man (above left). The picture in question used to hang at Warwick Castle and was attributed to Rembrandt in the past. Photographs show……

Romney Society Lecture

Image: Self portrait, Attributed to John Westbrooke Chandler. National Portrait Gallery, London. NPG 927. POSTPONED TILL ANOTHER DATE TBC. I’m honoured to announce that I’ll be giving a lecture for the Romney Society’s AGM on 3rd April 2020 in Cumbria. The subject that I’ve been asked to lecture on is John Westbrooke Chandler, and the……

From House to House: A portrait of Katherine Grey

Image: Katherine Grey and her son, English School c.1560, Syon House. It never ceases to amaze me how historic portraits were often passed between great houses in the many centuries after they were painted. This was often for dynastic as well as aesthetic reasons. Questions of the ‘appropriateness’ of certain pictures hanging in specific locations……

A Melancholic Portrait

Image: A portrait of a melancholic gentleman, English School c.1600, oil on panel 29 1/4 x 23 7/8 in. With Darnley Fine Art. I recently had the pleasure of being shown a very beautiful and enigmatic Elizabethan painting by a London Art Dealer. This fine portrait had hung in Warwick Castle, whose collection has occupied……

Article: John Westbrooke Chandler (1763/4-1807)

Image: Self portrait, John Westbrooke Chandler, Christie’s, New York, 30 Oct 2018. I’m thrilled to have had an article published in the British Art Journal (XX, 1, pp.82-89) on the little known Georgian painter-poet John Westbrooke Chandler (1763/4-1807). After training in the Royal Academy Schools, Chandler received the patronage and support of his natural half-brother……

A Coughton Court Mystery

Image: Portrait of Sir John Yate (?), attributed to Pieter Leermans, L – Coughton Court, NT, Warwickshire / R – Sold Bonhams 2016. Coughton Court, located north of my old school-town of Alcester in Warwickshire, contains many beautiful things. Amongst the portraits I have pored over there is a modest picture hanging amongst some rather……

Capitano Magnifico – A portrait of Sir John Gore

Image: Portrait of Sir John Gore, ‘British School’, oil on canvas, 177 x 147cm, BHC 2719. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. I was recently taken aback by a portrait in the National Maritime Museum of the Naval Captain Sir John Gore (1772-1836). The interconnectedness of artists and patrons of Georgian Britain never ceases to amaze. I……

A portrait by Joan Carlile reappears

Image: A portrait of Catherine Lyttleton by Joan Carlile Instagram via. Pip Shergold @Shergoldco The business of attribution is a curious thing. At times, we can suggest in an instant that this picture must be by so-and-so. Yet, at other times, attributions to certain painters requires the slow burn of research and rumination. Whilst swiping……