Lot 17: John Weesop Fl. 1641-1649 , Portrait of a Lady and a Gentleman oil on canvas, in an auricular carved wood frame

both three-quarter length, she seated, wearing a red silk dress and fur stole, he standing, in military dress with a breastplate and blue sash, a staff in his left hand, in a wooded landscape oil on canvas, in an auricular carved wood frame

measurements note 120 by 170 cm., 47 by 67 in.

Oliver Millar, 'Weesop: flesh on a skeleton', Burlington Magazine, October 2001, pp. 627-628, fig. 43

Anonymous sale, Christie's London, 12th June 2002, lot 28 where bought by the late owner

THE PROPERTY OF PRIVATE COLLECTOR
The late Sir Oliver Millar wrote extensively in the above article about the paintings which might be attributed to a Jan or John Weesop. First mention of this artist was made to George Vertue by 'Sykes' (presumably William Sykes the painter), who subsequently noted the details available (see Vertue, Notebooks, I, in the Walpole Society, XVIII, 1930, p. 49.)

Sir Oliver compares his style 'with the qualities [he took] from Van Dyck and his evocation of a slightly Dobson-like mood.' Furthermore, Weesop 'could for a brief period have presented something of a challenge to Lely, Hayls or Soest.' The flamboyance and confidence with which this portrait is painted owes a clear debt to van Dyck. Sir Oliver Millar points out that this portrait is particularly close in style to the portrait of Lord Grandison & Mr Villiers, by Weesop (The Duke of Buccleuch, on loan to the Government Art Collection). Furthermore, the Grandison portrait is very closely based on Van Dyck's double portrait of the Earl of Newport and George Goring (The Newport Restoration Foundation, Rhode Island) (Fig.1.) While the identity of the sitters in this portrait are unknown, we can presume that they come from the inner circles of the aristocracy and most probably with Royalist sympathies, as Sir Oliver Millar clarifies, Weesop 'clearly enjoyed the patronage of a number of influential patrons.'