Portrait of a Man

A group of miniatures dating between 1659 and 1676 are signed with the monogram DM. They are now ascribed to David Myers, about whom little is known (Daphne Foskett, A Dictionary of British Miniature Painters, New York, 1972, vol. 1, pp. 391, 418; vol. 2, pl. 221, no. 550, pl. 222, no. 551).

The signature on this miniature is a truncated version of the monogram DM found on the work assigned to David Myers. On receipt in The Metropolitan Museum, it was described as a portrait of Thomas Fairfax (1612–1671), third baron Fairfax of Cameron, following the identification engraved on the back of the frame. This appears to be inaccurate since the wound that Fairfax received at the battle of Marston Moor in 1644 remained conspicuous but is not visible here on the sitter's left cheek. The sitter also does not appear to be fifty-two, Fairfax's age in 1664.

[2015; adapted from Reynolds and Baetjer 1996]

Inscription: Signed and dated (left, in gold): [D?]M. / [1]664 [the signature and date trimmed at left]

Mary Clark Thompson, New York and Canandaigua, N.Y. (until d. 1923)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 5, 1996–January 5, 1997, no. 30.

Graham Reynolds with the assistance of Katharine Baetjer. European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1996, p. 83, no. 30, ill., accept the attribution to David Myers; reject the identification of the sitter as Thomas Fairfax (1612–1671), 3rd Baron Fairfax of Cameron, indicated in the inscription on the back of the frame.