Dobson self-portrait sells for £1.1m

A self-portrait by William Dobson, court painter to Charles I, sold recently at Bonham's for £1.1m (including buyer's premium).
Guardian article on the portrait Bonham's press release More articles about William Dobson More articles about English Civil War art

17th century art @ The Weiss Gallery

Sign outside the Weiss Gallery, London

The sign above caught my eye a few weeks back when walking in Jermyn Street ...

Was Dobson a Catholic?

Intriguing little side story which never made it into BBC4's William Dobson - The Lost Genius of British Art documentary, suggesting that Charles I's portraitist at the Oxford court may have secretly been a Catholic.

More about William Dobson

Christie Crawfurd Collection exhibition in Stow-on-the-Wold (Apr - Oct 2013)

The Death of a Cavalier's Wife, by Eugene Sibendt, 1919.

A major collection of English Civil War paintings are going on display this spring ...

Peter Lely @ The Courtauld

Peter Lely: A Lyrical Vision runs at the Courtauld Gallery, London until Jan 12 2013.

The reputation in the UK of the Dutch artist Peter Lely rests largely on his portraits of the many beauties who caught the eye of Charles II. Some of these appeared last year at The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned exhibition at Hampton Court.

The current display at the Courtauld chooses to examine Lely's pastoral and religious works. Previews frothed over risqué mythological scenes splashing acres of female flesh - scenes not often associated with the puritan Interregnum (when many of the works are meant to have been completed). So how did Lely get away with it?

400th anniversary of William Dobson

Detail from Dobson's (middle) self-portrait with Nicholas Lanier and Sir Charles
Cotterell, c.1644-5. 

Further evidence that BBC4 is increasing the quality of depth of its schedule was provided by the recent broadcast of The Lost Genius of British Art: William Dobson. English Civil War historians will be well aware of Dobson's role in cultivating the Cavalier image during his time at the Oxford court, but presenter Waldemar Januszczak goes further, claiming him as English painting's first great genius. The programme celebrates the 400th anniversary of the painter's birth, which is also being marked in a display at the National Portrait Gallery and a new website.

But have all Dobson's works been accounted for? ...