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This portrait by David Myers joins the small group of portrait miniatures which bear the monogram ‘DM’. This monogram has long been the subject of discussion, with George Vertue (1684-1756) mistakenly reading it as the mark of Nicholas Dixon (c.1645-after 1708). In 1933, Basil Somerset Long, Keeper of the Department of Paintings at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and a leading authority on miniatures saw a miniature with this monogram inscribed with the name ‘David Myers’ on the reverse. Miniatures with this monogram are now ascribed to this artist, although biographical information on him remains almost non-existent.

The largest group of miniatures by Myers are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, where he can be seen as a copyist (in his miniature of John Holles, 2nd Earl of Clare, after Samuel Cooper) [P30-1952] and an ambitious portraitist (in his large miniature of an unknown woman and dog, dated 1671) [P13-1949]. This portrait of an unknown man shows the sitter wearing a tunic with unusual ‘scale’ pattern shoulder epaulettes, much in the style of the gold-plated armour worn by Cosimo III, who sat for Samuel Cooper in 1669. As a contemporary of Cooper, Myers may have shared patrons or acted as a more accessible alternative to the busy artist, who was much in demand to the king and his circle. In the present work, Myers has used a black background to act a dramatic backdrop to the sitter, particularly effective next to his exorbitant use of gold paint. His connection with the Isham family, known from a group of portraits still in possession of the family, suggests that he may have been something of an amateur artist who used his personal connections to gain commissions.