Gerard Soest
Portrait of Anne, Viscountess Bayning (d. 1678), c. 1660
Oil on canvas
27 x 21 inches (68.6 x 53.3 cm)
Philip Mould & Co.
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com Soest was no painter-courtier like Sir Peter Lely. He eschewed his rival's elegance and diplomacy, preferring instead at times to...
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com
Soest was no painter-courtier like Sir Peter Lely. He eschewed his rival's elegance and diplomacy, preferring instead at times to dress in his worst clothes, impersonate his servant and dismiss caller on the pretence that he was out. Unremarkably his practice never achieved the heights that marked Lely's success. Nonetheless he was a painter of exceptional distinction, and with sitters whose introspection matched perhaps his own, as here, could achieve a degree of sensitivity that eluded Lely.
Soest was no painter-courtier like Sir Peter Lely. He eschewed his rival's elegance and diplomacy, preferring instead at times to dress in his worst clothes, impersonate his servant and dismiss caller on the pretence that he was out. Unremarkably his practice never achieved the heights that marked Lely's success. Nonetheless he was a painter of exceptional distinction, and with sitters whose introspection matched perhaps his own, as here, could achieve a degree of sensitivity that eluded Lely.