Probably John Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Trerice (1678–1706) as a Boy and an Unidentified Enslaved Attendant
Casparus Smits or Smitz (Gaspar Smith) (c.1635 - Dublin 1688/1707)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1680 - 1688
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
648 x 578 mm (25 ½ x 22 ¾ in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Trerice, Cornwall
NT 337182
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Probably John Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Trerice (1678–1706) as a Boy and an Unidentified Enslaved Attendant by Casparus Smits or Smitz (Gaspar Smith)(c.1635 - Dublin 1688/1707), 1680 - 88. A full-length portrait of a boy, standing in a landscape, wearing a blue, gold-fringed tunic, with white sleeves and a white stock, and grey-green boots. Behind him is a young attendant, wearing a pink satin tunic, a metal collar and pearl earring, holding a staff onto which a dead rabbit appears to be bound. The boy in blue rests his right hand on the head of a hound, which looks up at him, and with his left hand, he gestures to the landscape on the right of the picture. Highlighted against the dark foliage on the left of the picture is a statue of a putto in the pose of Cupid drawing his bow, whose left hand is missing, on top of a large plinth bearing a relief of three putti enacting the Triumph of Silenus. Note on the Unidentified Enslaved Attendantt: That the young attendant is of African descent wearing a metal collar indicates he was enslaved. It is not known if he was included by the artist as a trope or as a portrait of a real individual.
Provenance
Bought from the Irish Sale, Sotheby's, 9 May 2007, lot 1
Makers and roles
Casparus Smits or Smitz (Gaspar Smith) (c.1635 - Dublin 1688/1707) , artist