Three-quarter length portrait study of a man seated at a desk with a dog
Circle of Joseph van Aken Flemish
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, using black and white chalk to describe the elements of the costume, with brown ink used to refine details. The design was then overlaid with a graphite grid to allow it to be transferred accurately onto canvas.
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