William Dobson, copy after - Portrait of Endymion Porter

William Dobson, copy after

Portrait of Endymion Porter

Oil paint on paper mounted on wood. 41.5 x 32.5 cm.

On the reverse a typewritten label: "Anthonie van Dijck/Portretstuk./Beschreven door Dr. W.R. Valentiner./Collection of Jerome Bonaparte, King of Westphalia/Collection of the Duke of Cumberland."

This portrait depicts Endymion Porter, one of the most exceptional personalities in England in the early 17th century. Porter played a central role in the country's politics, diplomacy, and artistic scene during the reign of Charles I. His features have become familiar in part due to the double-portrait painted together with him by Anthony van Dyck, now housed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
The present work depicts Endymion Porter in hunting clothes accompanied by a page and a dog. William R. Valentiner has attributed this work to Van Dyck due to its exceptional quality. Marijnissen also spoke of the “high quality“ of the piece in his in depth expertise. However, he left the question of the work's authorship open and closed his analysis with the statement “In my view, the sketch discussed here, deserves further investigation“.
What is known for sure is that the present work can be brought into connection with William Dobson's portrait of Endymion Porter in the Tate Gallery in London, painted between 1642 and 1645 (oil on canvas, 150 x 127 cm). Marijnissen suggested that the work could have been made as a study by van Dyck or Dobson for the London portrait, or that it could have been a replica made as the design for an engraving. However, for various reasons none of these considerations are plausible. More likely is that the work is a copy after Dobson's painting in the Tate Gallery made in his studio or by an artist from his circle.

Provenance

Possibly Jerome Bonaparte. – Duke of Cumberland. - Norman Winston, United States. – Belgian private collection.

Literature

Exhib. cat. London 1983: William Dobson, London 1983, p. 35. - R.H. Marijnissen, A Portrait of Endymion Porter. A Dobson-van Dyck Problem, in: Academiae Analecta, vol. 56, Brussels 1996, pp. 65–7. – Karen Hearn: Catalogue entry “William Dobson, Portrait of Endymion Porter”, Homepage Tate Gallery (https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dobson-endymion-porter-n01249)