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The painting ‘Portrait of a Gentleman in Robes’
Posted by David Taylor on 25/05/2015
In the highest circles
The painting ‘Portrait of a Gentleman in Robes’ offered for sale on the website at the moment brings to mind the circles that painters like Sir Godfrey Kneller moved in. Although this painting is classified as ‘Circle of Sir Godfrey Kneller’, this still tells us a lot about its creation. ‘Circle of’ generally means that the art work shows the influence of the master, and may possibly have known the master, but might not have been his or her pupil.
Kneller himself is known to have studied under Ferdinand Bol, the famed student of Rembrandt van Rijn. Connoisseurship and art history have identified that Kneller was definitely under the tutelage of Bol while Rembrandt was alive. We cannot say, however, whether the great master Rembrandt actually taught Kneller at any stage. Certainly Kneller was alive at the same time as Rembrandt, however Rembrandt himself was nearing the end of his life when Kneller was in his early twenties. Nevertheless, being taught by Bol was by no means a bad thing. Bol himself was taught by the Dutch master Abraham Blomaert, and was fully qualified before entering Rembrandt’s school. After 1650, Bol struck out on his own, and developed a distinctive style that was entirely at odds with Rembrandt’s late, heavily impasto-ed works. It was at this time that Kneller is said to have studied under Bol.
Bol created several very important and beautiful history paintings, including his ‘Aeneas among the Latins’ (c. 1661-1664) and the Consul Titus Manlius watching his son be beheaded (1661-1664). But it is for portraiture that Bol is important here, because Kneller went on to become England’s top portraitist. Among Bol’s most famous portraits are the magnificent portrait of the master Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter in 1667, and the portrait of the Regents of the Amsterdam Leper House (c. 1668). What Kneller did was to take Bol’s Dutch influence and ‘aristocratise’ it, making it suitable for the English – and later British – upper classes, which made his fortune. Kneller suffused his works with subtle wealth, charm and above all, elegance of style. His fame also brought him into contact with another of the pillars of the age, Sir Isaac Newton.
By mixing in the right circles, artists of the seventeenth and eighteenth century could make their fortunes and, if they were wise, they would be able to hold onto it.
Enjoy!