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CIRCLE OF JOSEPH VAN AKEN. Oval, Bust-Length Portrait Study of a Young Man

Oval, Bust-Length Portrait Study of a Young Man. Artist: Circle of Joseph van Aken (Flemish, Antwerp (?) ca. 1699-1749 London (active Britain)). Dimensions: sheet: 13 1/4 x 11 in. (33.6 x 28 cm). Date: ca. 1740-60.
After training in Antwerp, the young Van Aken went to London, where he specialized in painting draperies. The leading portraitists there, including Joseph Highmore, Thomas Hudson, and Allan Ramsay, often painted only a sitter's face, relying on Van Aken to finish the rest of the figure. His work became ubiquitous, to the point that the collector and writer Horace Walpole remarked wryly: "As in England almost everybody's picture is painted, so almost every painter's works were painted by Van Aken."
An assistant probably made this portrait study, but it demonstrates Van Aken's typical attention to texture using black and white chalk to describe the elements of the costume, with touches of brown ink used to refine details. The design was then overlaid with a graphite grid to allow it to be transferred accurately onto canvas.

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Author: CIRCLE OF JOSEPH VAN AKEN (ca. 1699-1749)

Title: Oval, Bust-Length Portrait Study of a Young Man

Caption: Oval, Bust-Length Portrait Study of a Young Man. Artist: Circle of Joseph van Aken (Flemish, Antwerp (?) ca. 1699-1749 London (active Britain)). Dimensions: sheet: 13 1/4 x 11 in. (33.6 x 28 cm). Date: ca. 1740-60. After training in Antwerp, the young Van Aken went to London, where he specialized in painting draperies. The leading portraitists there, including Joseph Highmore, Thomas Hudson, and Allan Ramsay, often painted only a sitter's face, relying on Van Aken to finish the rest of the figure. His work became ubiquitous, to the point that the collector and writer Horace Walpole remarked wryly: "As in England almost everybody's picture is painted, so almost every painter's works were painted by Van Aken." An assistant probably made this portrait study, but it demonstrates Van Aken's typical attention to texture using black and white chalk to describe the elements of the costume, with touches of brown ink used to refine details. The design was then overlaid with a graphite grid to allow it to be transferred accurately onto canvas.

Technique/material: Black and white chalk and graphite on blue laid paper, squared in graphite

Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Credit: Album

Image size: 3236 × 3935 px | 36.4 MB

Print size: 27.4 × 33.3 cm | 1274.0 × 1549.2 in (300 dpi)

Keywords: BLACK AND WHITE CHALK AND GRAPHITE ON BLUE LAID PAPER, SQUARED IN GRAPHITE • CHALK • CIRCLE OF JOSEPH VAN AKEN • DRAWINGS AND PRINTS • DRAWINGS • EUROPE • FLANDERS • GRAPHITE • LAID PAPER • METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK, USA • PAPER • PASTELS