Click image to view full screen
Portrait of a Man
✓ Authenticity guarantee · ✓ Specialist condition report · ✓ Insured worldwide shipping · ✓ Private-room viewing
Painted during the early part of Richard Cosway’s mature career, this portrait of an unknown man exhibits the artist’s characteristic proportionality, with head enlarged in relation to the shoulders and eyes enlarged in relation to the rest of the face. The effect is to draw the viewer’s attention to the sitter’s eyes, which heightens the already intimate experience of looking at a miniature.<br>This young sitter wears a high collar popular in the late 1780s and has powdered his hair, worn <em>en queue</em> rather than wearing a wig, which by 1790 was used primarily by older, conservative men.<br>Measuring under 2 inches high, this miniature is modest in size for Cosway during this period, when the format of his miniatures expanded to 3 inches. Factors such as size, elaborateness of costume, and how much of the body was depicted all determined how much an artist would charge for a miniature. Smaller miniatures were obviously more portable and adaptable to being worn as jewelry.
| Artist / Maker | Richard Cosway |
|---|---|
| Date | c. 1790 |
| Culture / Origin | England, late 18th century |
| Medium | watercolor on ivory in a gold frame with blue and white enamel |
| Dimensions | Framed: 5.9 x 5 cm (2 5/16 x 1 15/16 in.); Unframed: 5 x 4 cm (1 15/16 x 1 9/16 in.) |
| Department | European Painting and Sculpture |
| Type | Portrait Miniature |
About the Artist
Richard Cosway was Arguably the most fashionable miniature painter in London during the art form’s golden age in <br>late-eighteenth-century Britain. Also an accomplished painter in oils, Cosway was equally well known for his flamboyant character and the stunning art collection that secured his reputation as an arbiter of taste and model of connoisseurship. His elegant portraits in miniature were coveted by sitters who sought glamour even if it was at the expense of truthfulness. Cosway and his wife, Maria (neé… Full biography →
Provenance & Source
Image & data: Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 / Public Domain.
Condition
A detailed condition report and high-resolution photography are available from our specialists in advance of the sale.
Shipping & Collection
Fine-art shipping with climate control and full insurance to over 120 countries; collection by appointment.
Buying at Matchless Pieces
Register, verify your identity, and bid online or in a private room. Buyer’s premium and taxes are shown before you confirm.
