Portrait of a Man
1798
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1798
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Portrait of a Man is a 1798 unspecified by Nicholas Freese, a British Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A man in a blue coat looks slightly to the right. His white cravat is ruffled, and his powdered hair is tied back. Freese painted this around the same time he showed work at the Royal Academy, but we don’t know who the sitter is. The gold buttons and crisp folds show how people dressed in England before the 1800s. To see how other artists painted English gentlemen of the time, look up *england, late 18th century*.
Little biographical information is available about Nicholas Freese, who is often referred to as N Freese. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy from 1794 to 1814. Royal Academy records identify him as a “painter” rather than a “miniature painter.” The unknown gentleman in this portrait is painted bust length in three-quarter view and facing right. He wears a blue coat with gold buttons over a white waistcoat and frilled cravat. His eyes are brown, and his powdered hair is worn en queue . There is a slightly yellow pallor to his complexion, and his nose is aquiline. The background is…
The back contains a lock of hair arranged as a wheat sheaf cinched with a gold ribbon, over (now cracked) white opalescent glass.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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