Beschreibung:

SIR JOHN HOPPNER (british 1758-1810) PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN, THOUGHT TO BE HENRY WILSON THREE-QUARTER LENGTH, IN A GREEN COAT, STOCK AND BREECHES, HOLDING HIS HAT AND WALKING CANE, IN A LANDSCAPE Oil on canvas 50 x 40 1/8 in. (127.6 x 101.9 cm) provenance: The Sitter. Collection of Mrs. Edward Wise of Ryde, daughter of the Sitter. By descent in the family (until 1929). Leger Sale, sold by order of the Westhome Security Corporation, n.d. American Art Association, New York, sale of March 2, 1933, lot 82. Private Collection, Pennsylvania. note: The presumed sitter is Henry Wilson - second son of John Wilson a merchant in the city of London - and himself a merchant with interests in Jamaica. He married Amelia, daughter of Brackley Kennett in 1786, and became Lord Mayor of London. John Hoppner was one of the leading portrait painters of late 18th century Britain, along with Sir Joshua Reynolds - to whom his early portraits reveal an indebtedness - and Thomas Gainsborough He was also a contemporary of the young Sir Thomas Lawrence with whom he came to develop a strong rivalry. Hoppner entered the Royal Academy in 1775, winning a silver medal in 1778 for drawing from life, and then a gold medal - the Academy's highest award, for historical painting in 1782. Hoppner first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1780 with a preference for landscapes, but ultimately became a portraitist because it was more financially lucrative. Amongst Hoppner's illustrious sitters were the Prince of Wales, Sir George Beaumont, the Duke of Wellington, and Sir Walter Scott