John Closterman
Portrait of Samuel Pepys FRS (1633-1703), c. 1690
Oil on canvas
24 1/4 x 19 1/2 inches (61.6 x 49.5 cm)
Philip Mould & Co.
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com A unique, and until c.1897, unrecorded portrait of Pepys (see attached NPG report sheet). Its early provenance is significant, being part...
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com
A unique, and until c.1897, unrecorded portrait of Pepys (see attached NPG report sheet). Its early provenance is significant, being part of the collection of John Thane, author of British Autography (1793), and himself a renowned expert on pictures, coins and objects vertu (see The Dictionary of National Biography page 587).
The portrait reveals Pepys in his last ten years, and the attribution to Closterman is based on a comparison with a less incisive version, with slight compositional differences in the National Portrait Gallery (NPG No 2100), purchased in 1925.
A unique, and until c.1897, unrecorded portrait of Pepys (see attached NPG report sheet). Its early provenance is significant, being part of the collection of John Thane, author of British Autography (1793), and himself a renowned expert on pictures, coins and objects vertu (see The Dictionary of National Biography page 587).
The portrait reveals Pepys in his last ten years, and the attribution to Closterman is based on a comparison with a less incisive version, with slight compositional differences in the National Portrait Gallery (NPG No 2100), purchased in 1925.
Provenance
John Thane, print seller and engraver (1748-1818) (monogram on old lining) Mr Cartman, RichmondSir Lionel Gust, Director of the National Portrait Gallery and Surveyor of the Royal Collection
Literature
Sir David Piper, Catalogue of Seventeenth CenturyPortraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625 - 1714 Sir Lionel Gust, ''Pepys Club, Occasional Papers'', Volume 1, 1917 National Portrait Gallery Report Sheet C 1897 (attached)