Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are offering for sale this intriguing bust portrait of a Puritan or Pilgrim, by the artist, presumably Jewish, with the surname of Cohen, who has signed the painting in capital letters in the lower left hand quarter of the painting. The painting depicts a head and shoulders portrait of a Puritan is his middle years, wearing a dark jacket with a maroon felt wide brimmed hat, with his deep, linen shirt collar bearing a chequerboard pattern in the same colour.

The Puritans were a group of people who felt that the Church of England still retained some of the Catholic 'popery' even after the Reformation and wished for even more reform. Some wished to leave the church, these were called Dissenters. The roots of many of the Non-Conformists churches began with the Puritans. Some of them went to the Netherlands and another group were know later as the Pilgrim Fathers who travelled to America and settled in New England. They wore sober and modest clothing.

We have, unfortunately, been unable to discover anything about the artist as, although we have looked up examples of signatures of all the artists with this name where an example of a signature is shown, we have found none that correspond. There are a lot of artists with this name where there is no example shown, so those we cannot check.

The painting has been newly framed in a 4" black frame with gilt slip and will be supplied wired and ready to hang.

Image size: 22" x 18" - 55.85cm x 45.7cm

Frame size: 30" x 25 7/8" - 76.2cm x 65.8cm

Medium: Oils on canvas

Condition: Very good. The canvas is clean and taut and there are no repairs. There is overall craquelure and stretcher marks consistent with age. The frame and slip are new.