HUGH DOUGLAS HAMILTON, R.H.A. (1739-1808)

PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN IN ROME
Inscribed on backboard cr...yn [crayon?] / at Rome / 179... / engraved
Oil on canvas laid on panel
12.7 x 11.5 cm
 
PROVENANCE:
Private collection, Ireland
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
F. Cullen, "Hugh Douglas Hamilton in Rome", in Apollo, vol. CXV (February 1982), pp.86-91
 
 
 
 
 
When this work was offered at auction in 2024, a pendant to it was inscribed in the same hand to the backboard at Rome / 1792. It does not feature in Cullen's essay on Hamilton's time in Rome, and given the scale of the portrait - particularly compared to Hamilton's grand pastels and oils of Grand Tourists and his subject paintings from his years in Rome - it is possible that it was given to a friend in his extensive circle of artistic and diplomatic acquaintances. Although there is an inscription on a label to the back of the panel inscribed Engraved, this work was never published as a print, suggesting either an error or that it was intended for engraving but never executed.