This charming portrait sketch is the work of Jacopo Amigoni, one of the leading proponents of the Venetian Rocco style on the international stage. Amigoni was a peripatetic artist. After completing his training in Venice, he spent the majority of his career abroad, with long stints in southern Germany (1715-1729), England (1729-1739), and, in the final part of his life, in Spain (1747-1752). This sheet was originally part of a sketchbook, dismembered in the early 20th century, which the artist used during his sojourn in England.
Although Amigoni enjoyed great success as a decorative painter throughout his career, changes in taste away from ambitious decorative schemes in England compelled him to take on an increased number of portrait commissions during this period. He became a fashionable portrait painter, particularly at the royal court, where he received regular commissions from King George II, Queen Caroline, and their entourage.
The forty-four portrait drawings from Amigoni’s sketchbook, now dispersed among museums and private collections, were executed in the same technique, typology, and style. Several of these sheets have been connected with known paintings by the artist, and the costumes in each are consistent with English fashion in the 1730s. However, their original purpose remains unclear. Some scholars consider them to be preparatory studies or presentation pieces for commissioned portraits. Others have suggested that they probably served as a repertoire of portrait types—a kind of 18th-century “lookbook”—showing varying positions and environments that Amigoni could present to patrons as possibilities when developing their individual portraits.
Regardless of their intended function, these Amigoni portrait studies are, as Janos Scholz aptly put it, “fun to look at [and] of very high artistic quality.” The gentleman in our portrait is shown three-quarter length in a relaxed pose, his right arm resting on the corner of a piece of furniture. He sports a formal wig and wears a frock coat, while in the background a swag of drapery hangs before a column. The drawing has been rapidly executed in a variety of media, and the mix of controlled and nervous handling of the pen, white heightening, and wash make this drawing a delight to behold.
