Doe and Hope

Description

The European school portrait in oils on canvas laid to board, showing a very well depicted middle to elderly aged bearded gentleman, glancing downward, presented in a later twentieth century deep gilded foliate frame, surviving from the second quarter of nineteenth century Europe.

The condition of the painting is unrestored and uncleaned and is wonderfully decorative and its quality remains apparent. There are minor scuffs but no major damages.

This picture is possibly a study for a bigger composition, with its unfinished feel, or a pupil copy of a profile in a studio. The well-rendered sitter, clearly in his elderly years, is partially bald, and the way he is depicted gives one a sense of quietness and calmness with a possible religious significance. It is possibly a depiction of a Saint such as St Joseph, and in the style of old Italian masters and though he is very well painted, we cannot see a signature on the work.

Clearly by a very capable hand, a beautifully captivating portrait.