Giuseppe Macpherson (1726-c. 1780)
Philips Koninck (1619-1688) c.1772-80
7.0 x 5.6 cm (sight) | RCIN 421264
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Philips Koninck (1619-88) was a Dutch painter, born in Amsterdam, and the best-known of a family of painters. Initially he trained with his older brother Jacob in Rotterdam but, according to Arnold Houbraken, the Dutch painter and writer on art, Koninck became a pupil of Rembrandt. He painted portraits and history paintings but specialised in landscapes. He also ran a shipping company and in the last decade of his life did little painting. He was a prolific draughtsman and put together a collection of drawings.
This miniature is one of the collection of copies of 224 self-portraits by artists in the Uffizi Palace, Florence, that Lord Cowper, the art collector and patron, commissioned Giuseppe Macpherson (1726-1780) to paint. He presented the miniatures to King George III in two batches, in 1773 and 1786. Macpherson followed the original self-portraits quite closely, but copied only the head and shoulders. He inscribed the artists' names on the backs of the miniatures – several differ from those in the modern Uffizi catalogue, notably: Bazzi, Bellini, Campi, Annibale Carracci, Gabbiani, Masaccio, Metsys, Moroni, Pencz, Licinio, Schiavone and Spada. None of the miniatures is signed, apart from Macpherson's own self-portrait, which is inscribed: Giuseppe Macpherson / Autore della serie (Giuseppe Macpherson / Author of the series).Macpherson was born in Florence, the son of Donald Macpherson, a footman in the service of Alexander, 2nd Duke of Gordon. He was a pupil of Pompeo Batoni and painted miniatures and enamel portraits in Italy, France and Germany, finally settling in Florence. A James Macpherson is recorded in London and Paris in 1754 but it is not certain that this is the same person. He was described in 1776 as having a special talent for painting on enamel and as being 'almost the only painter in Europe who possesses this art to perfection'. He had a distinguished client list which included some of the crowned heads and dignitaries of Europe. In 1778, he was invited to add his own self-portrait to the famous painters in the grand duke's collection as it 'would do honour to Florence to enrich the collection with a work which shows that we still have some men of true merit' according to Giuseppe Pelli, director of the Uffizi at the time.Provenance
Presented to George III by Lord Cowper
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Measurements
7.0 x 5.6 cm (sight)