18TH CENTURY ENGLISH PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN - BY THOMAS HUDSON (1701-1779)

A high quality and richly coloured 18th century portrait of a gentleman by Thomas Hudson (1701-1779). The wealthy and self assured gentleman is depicted half length within an oval cartouche wearing a powdered wig, rust coloured velvet jacket, frilled white shirt and silk waistcoat.

Such an elegant and refined sitter is exactly the type of patron that favoured the work of Thomas Hudson.  One might expect an individual of such status to gaze at us haughtily, however with his head slightly inclined he casts us the warmest and most sensitive of expressions.

Fine brushwork, a shimmering costume and a sympathetic sitter make this fine portrait an excellent example of why Hudsons work was, and remains, so very appealing. 

This portrait is in an excellent state of conservation and ready to hand and enjoy in a carved and gilded late 18th century frame with painted border.

Thomas Hudson (1701-1779)                                   During the 1740’s Hudson became one of Britain’s leading portrait painters. He had trained as a youth with his father-in-law the theorist and painter Jonathan Richardson, whose bold Baroque portraiture he absorbed and built upon. The earliest records of his work date to the late 1720s, where the artist began splitting his time between London and the West Country.

Like many painters of the seventeenth and eighteenth century, he was often drawn to Bath to paint the wealthy sitters this spa town attracted. His studio in London became a hive of activity of wealthy patrons and aspiring pupils. Amongst his pupils were Joshua Reynolds, Joseph Wright of Derby and John Hamilton Mortimer. Hudson threw in his lot with other aspiring artists of the British School, and regularly met with the likes of Hogarth, Hayman, Ramsay and Rysbrack at the Old Slaughter’s Coffee House in St Martin’s Lane. He collaborated with the painter Joseph van Aken, who painted the drapery of many of his finest works. This collaboration shows how great the demand for the artist’s brush had become.

Hudson’s success as a portraitist attracted many pupils who wished to study with him. Among them were such figures as Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-97), who was in Hudson’s studio from 1751-3 and 1756-7, and Joshua Reynolds (1723-92), who worked for Hudson from 1740-43. The success of this latter, who did so much to transform eighteenth-century British portraiture, however, turned the pupil into a powerful rival. Such was Reynolds’s success that by the 1760s Hudson’s style looked old-fashioned and he struggled to find new commissions. Hudson retired to his villa in Twickenham, where he died in 1770.  

Higher resolution images on request.  Worldwide shipping available.

Canvas: 25" x 30" / 64cm x 76.5cm. Frame: 37.5" x 32" / 75cm x 81.5cm.

Price: £9250