Oil on canvas (lined), unsigned, circa 1725, the sitter clothed in brown velvet, eruditely posed with right hand gesturing toward an open text and Classical male table sculpture, presented in a contemporary gilt frame, verso with inscribed label.

Stretcher Size 48 3/4 x 40 1/4 in.; Frame dimensions 55 x 46 3/8 in.

Private Collection, Greensboro, North Carolina

Gifted to the consignor by an uncle.

Jonathan Richardson the Elder was a noted portraitist and the first English painter to write a significant treatise on art. His works were of great influence to William Hogarth and Sir Joshua Reynolds. Additionally, he assembled one of the most important English collections of Old Master Drawings of his time.


Sir Andrew Fountaine (1676-1753) was an English antiquarian, art collector and influential courtier. The present portrait depicts Fountaine wearing the gilt bronze key of his office as Vice-Chamberlain to Princess Caroline of Ansbach. This portrait also highlights Fountaine’s interest in Italian art, alluded to by the classical nude, and his intellectual acumen, illustrated by the open books before him.

Another portrait of Fountaine, also depicting his status as a collector and connoisseur, by William Hogarth is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This conversation piece shows Fountaine surrounded by men and woman in the midst of an elegant garden party and examining an Italian painting.

Scattered drying crackle; scattered areas of touch up visible under UV light.

$8,000 - 12,000