Circle of Johan Joseph Zoffany RA, British 1733-1810- Portrait of a gentleman standing full length in an interior; oil on canvas, 67.2 x 58 cm. (VAT charged on hammer price). Note: Zoffany was highly skilled at depicting the sumptuous interiors...

Circle of Johan Joseph Zoffany RA,

British 1733-1810-

Portrait of a gentleman standing full length in an interior;

oil on canvas, 67.2 x 58 cm. (VAT charged on hammer price).

Note: Zoffany was highly skilled at depicting the sumptuous interiors that his sitters inhabited, and the artist here was very likely influenced by his compositions. See, for example, ‘The Dutton Family’ (Private Collection), a copy of which is housed by the National Trust Collections at Hinton Ampner [no.1530083]; ‘Sir Lawrence Dundas and his grandson Lawrence’ (Collection of Marques of Zetland); and ‘John, Fourteenth Lord Willoughby de Broke, and His Family’ in the Getty Centre [no.96.PA.312). The sumptuous fabric and detailing of the carpet in the present work, are, in particular, suggestive of those resplendent interiors recorded by Zoffany. Indeed, this artist’s meticulous attention to detail recalls very closely Zoffany’s fusion of the smooth and detailed style he had learned from artist Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779) in Rome, and the exactitude of the Flemish and Netherlandish school he had encountered in Germany. In subject too, this portrait, of a gentleman clad in fine Georgian dress, standing in his home and attending to business matters, is consistent with Zoffany’s often returned to theme of depicting his middle- and upper-class contemporaries in their lavish surroundings, and can be likened too, although with obvious differences, to his conversation pieces. Like Zoffany, the artist here clearly enjoyed vividly recording the settings and social customs of the time. Both stylistically and in terms of the interior furnishings, the present work can be further compared to Zoffany’s ‘Mr and Mrs Dalton and their Niece Mary de Heulle’ held by the Tate Collections [no.T01895], and for a similar composition with a single sitter, see, also, Zoffany’s ‘Portrait of William Stackhouse’, offered at Christie’s, London, 10 July 2014, lot 229.
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