Half-length portrait study of a wigged man

ca. 1740–60

Not on view

After training in Antwerp, the young Van Aken went to London, where he specialized in painting draperies. The leading portraitists there, including Joseph Highmore, Thomas Hudson, and Allan Ramsay, often painted only a sitter's face, relying on Van Aken to finish the rest of the figure. His work became ubiquitous, to the point that the collector and writer Horace Walpole remarked wryly: "As in England almost everybody's picture is painted, so almost every painter's works were painted by Van Aken."
An assistant probably made this portrait study, but it demonstrates Van Aken's typical attention to texture using black and white chalk to describe the elements of the costume, with touches of brown ink used to refine details. The design was then overlaid with a graphite grid to allow it to be transferred accurately onto canvas.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

References

Title: Half-length portrait study of a wigged man
Artist: Circle of Joseph van Aken (Flemish, Antwerp (?) ca. 1699–1749 London (active Britain))
Date: ca. 1740–60
Medium: Black and white chalk and graphite on blue laid paper, squared in graphite
Dimensions: sheet: 9 5/16 x 7 13/16 in. (23.6 x 19.9 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Purchase, Jeffrey L. Berenson Gift, 2004
Object Number: 2004.514
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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In the same medium

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Bust-length portrait study of a young woman with a striped shawl, Joseph van Aken Flemish, Black and white chalk, brown ink and graphite on blue laid paper, squared in graphite — Bust-length portrait study of a young woman with a striped shawl
Joseph van Aken
ca. 1740–60

Half-length portrait study of a woman wearing a cap and pearl earrings, Joseph van Aken Flemish, Black and white chalk, brown ink and graphite on blue laid paper, squared in graphite — Half-length portrait study of a woman wearing a cap and pearl earrings
Joseph van Aken
ca. 1740–60

Oval, bust-length portrait study of a young man, Joseph van Aken Flemish, Black and white chalk and graphite on blue laid paper, squared in graphite — Oval, bust-length portrait study of a young man
Joseph van Aken
ca. 1740–60

Half-length portrait study of a young woman with long hair, Joseph van Aken Flemish, Black and white chalk, brown ink and graphite on blue laid paper, squared in graphite — Half-length portrait study of a young woman with long hair
Joseph van Aken
ca. 1740–60

Three-quarter length portrait study of a man seated at a desk with a dog, Joseph van Aken Flemish, Black and white chalk, stumping, brown ink and graphite on blue laid paper, squared in graphite — Three-quarter length portrait study of a man seated at a desk with a dog
Joseph van Aken
ca. 1740–60

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