|
Date: |
|
Description: | Signed: yes Description: Louis Gauffier (1762-1801) was among the last eighteenth century major Grand Tour portrait painters, in 1784 he won the Prix de Rome and moved to Italy to avoid Revolutionary strife in Paris; he continued to send works to the Paris Salon until 1793 when, because of anti-French demonstrations in the Eternal City he was forced to move to Florence, where the present portrait was executed. Here he maintained a steady production of neoclassical portraits, mostly of French and British officers and diplomats, characterised by strong, clear linear compositions. He also painted landscapes of the city and its surrounding countryside, he died in the Tuscan capital aged thirty-nine. This portrait is of the thirty-eight year old Sir Godfrey Webster, fourth Bt. (1748-1800) who married the heiress Elizabeth Vassall, aged fifteen. In 1791 he took his wife and their two infant sons on a Grand Tour that would have terrible consequences for his family life. In 1794 the year this portrait was made, Elizabeth met Henry, third Baron Holland while they were in Florence - 'Sir Wedfrey Gobster' as her husband was known, was to return to England alone in 1795 and in 1797 they were divorced. Subsequently Elizabeth and Lord Holland were married and had a son while Sir Godefrey took his life in 1800. This small neoclassical portrait was apparently commissioned by Lord Holland, along with two others by Gauffier, dated 1795 of himself and Elizabeth. Their safe delivery to England was entrusted to Gauffier's compatriot, the portraitist Francois-Xavier Fabre who oversaw the safe removal of all Lord Holland's Italian purchases. | Subjects: | portrait (Sir Godfrey Vassall Webster) | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Gauffier, Louis (French painter, 1761-1801) Æ | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8735... | Go to resource |
|
|