Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level F , Case RMC, Shelf 1, Box D

An Unknown Man

Portrait Miniature
ca.1665 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Portrait of a man, head and shoulders, turned to front, his hair long, and wearing armour and a neckcloth tied in a bow. Features in brown and sanguine, brushed generously into a heavily impasted ground, and with successive scumbles and glazes in the areas of flesh to give light and shade; white in the eyes and red for the lips; hair in brown wash, lined in darker colour and with the lights in pale brown opaque wash; cravat in pale brown wash, heightened with white and with darker brown and grey for the shadows; armour in dark grey washes with the lights in pale grey-blue and white; the studs in yellow-ochre and brown; sky in opaque washes of blue, grey, brown and yellow; on vellum put down on pasteboard.

Frame: Nineteenth-century gilt locket; nearly flat back overlapping very short straight sides forming the bezel, which holds the flat glass by its bevelled edge; the hanger of D-section with a single narrow central groove, soldered to the back of the locket; two separate spirals of flat wire, each beginning with a short reverse turn before entering seven diminishing turns. On the back, a printed label of South Kensington 1862, inscribed: Baroness North / Aug. 23.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleAn Unknown Man (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on vellum put down on pasteboard
Brief description
Portrait miniature of an unknown man, watercolour on vellum, English school, ca.1665.
Physical description
Portrait of a man, head and shoulders, turned to front, his hair long, and wearing armour and a neckcloth tied in a bow. Features in brown and sanguine, brushed generously into a heavily impasted ground, and with successive scumbles and glazes in the areas of flesh to give light and shade; white in the eyes and red for the lips; hair in brown wash, lined in darker colour and with the lights in pale brown opaque wash; cravat in pale brown wash, heightened with white and with darker brown and grey for the shadows; armour in dark grey washes with the lights in pale grey-blue and white; the studs in yellow-ochre and brown; sky in opaque washes of blue, grey, brown and yellow; on vellum put down on pasteboard.

Frame: Nineteenth-century gilt locket; nearly flat back overlapping very short straight sides forming the bezel, which holds the flat glass by its bevelled edge; the hanger of D-section with a single narrow central groove, soldered to the back of the locket; two separate spirals of flat wire, each beginning with a short reverse turn before entering seven diminishing turns. On the back, a printed label of South Kensington 1862, inscribed: Baroness North / Aug. 23.
Dimensions
  • Height: 53mm
  • Width: 45mm
Dimensions taken from John Murdoch Seventeenth-century English Miniatures in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: The Stationery Office, 1997.
Content description
Portrait of a man, head and shoulders, and wearing a neckcloth tied in a bow and armour.
Styles
Credit line
Alan Evans Bequest, given by the National Gallery
Object history
Provenance: In 1862, Lady North de Kirtling at Wroxton Abbey; acquired from an unrecorded source by the Hon. F HA Wallop; by him lent to the V&A c.192 7-49; ownership transferred to Alan Evans, 1933, and by him bequeathed to the National Gallery, 1974; placed on indeterminate loan at the V&A.
Subjects depicted
Bibliographic reference
Murdoch, John. Seventeenth-century English Miniatures in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: The Stationery Office, 1997.
Collection
Accession number
EVANS.54

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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