John Greenhill

John Greenhill was an English portraitist who, by 1662, had joined the Covent Garden studio of Sir Peter Lely before establishing himself as an independent artist around 1667. According to the notes of early eighteenth-century art critic George Vertue, Greenhill was considered “the most excellent of Lely’s disciples" and boasted an impressive clientele of bishops, admirals, and even the King.¹ Because Greenhill's life and career were cut short by his premature death in 1676, authenticated works by the artist are relatively scarce. Greenhill occasionally signed his works, sometimes with the distinctive “JG” monogram, similar to that visible in the present portrait. Comparable works by Greenhill bearing the same monogram include A Sea Officer (London, National Maritime Museum, inv. no. BHC3135), Thomas Weedon (New Haven, Yale Center for British Art, inv. no. B1987.29) and a self-portrait drawing (London, British Museum, inv. no. 1886,1123.1).

The inscription in center right of the present work identifies the sitter as Francis Fulford Esq. Very likely, this is Francis Fulford, Esq. (1632-1674) of Great Fulford, the grandson and principal heir of Sir Francis Fulford (1583-1665), Senior Knight of the Shire for Devon and a staunch Royalist during the Civil War.

1. H. Walpole and G. Vertue, Anecdotes of Painting in England, vol. III, Strawberry Hill 1763, p. 21.