Portrait of a Young Lady c.1735; Circle of Charles Philips.

Oil on canvas in carved and giltwood frame.

A charming portrait, a full-length "in little", of an attractive young woman, with a house and garden to her left.
Dressed in the height of fashion, the lady allows an elegantly shod foot to peep from beneath her silk gown.

CHARLES PHILIPS (1708-1747), the son of painter Richard Philips, was fortunate enough to receive the patronage of Frederick, Prince of Wales, then the most significant patron of the arts in England, upon his arrival in England. His association with the royal coterie resulted in his success amongst the fashionable circles of society which included the Duke of Marlborough and the Duke of Somerset. Philips produced a number of small scale full-length portraits which demonstrate his skill and attention to detail.

Philips work in both small and large-scale formats contains a certain naive charm, which, combined with the sense of formality seen here, fitted well into the prevailing English taste.
Like most followers of Kneller and the ‘St Martin’s Lane School’, Philip’s portraits are often simply composed, with distinctly drawn eyes and the liberal use of red for details such as the lips and eyes. His direct, if uncomplicated, characterisations proved popular.
He married in 1738 and established a practice at Lincoln's Inn Fields.

SIZE:34 x 26 inches inc. frame.

PROVENANCE:
*Collection of Sir Hughes Stanton R.A. (1870-1937).
*Purchased by the Wadsworth Atheneaum with funds from The Ella Gallup Summer and Mary Catlin Summer Fund, 1940.
*Sotheby's New York, 28 May 1999.
*Private Collection.

Verso: Old labels of the Wadsworth Atheneaum, Hartford, Connecticut, USA incorrectly naming the artist as Francis Hayman R.A