Anton Raphael Mengs and Studio Ústi nad Labem, Bohemia (Czech Republic) 1728 - 1779 Rome

Lieutenant General Sir John Hope (c.1684-1766)

Although unidentified the sitter of the present work is likely to be an English gentleman. Mengs never visited England but he formed a significant relationship with English culture. This was largely as a result of the Grand Tour, which became a virtual obligation for English gentlemen and women of the eighteenth century. The natural centre for the Grand Tour was Rome, a city which Mengs visited three times in his life, on the third occasion remaining for ten years. During the period of this third stay, between 1752-61 Mengs met the artist Thomas Jenkins who was to prove influential in guiding his style. Jenkins had studied portraiture in England under Thomas Hudson and he arrived in Rome keen to pursue the style of Van Dyck. It is possible that Jenkins encouraged Mengs in this same pursuit, although it should also be noted that Mengs's father had taught his son to copy the portraits of Van Dyck from an early age. Mengs executed a large number of portraits of English gentlemen in Van Dyck dress during the mid to late 1750s, and the present work must surely date to this same period.