After Jean-Baptiste van Loo (1684-1745)
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (1676-1745) c. 1740
Oil on canvas | 141.7 x 113.8 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 402902
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The founder of the van Loo dynasty of painters was the Dutchman, Jacob van Loo (1614-70), who was obliged to flee Amsterdam after killing someone in a pub brawl. Having settled in Paris his son, Louis Abraham, and grandsons, Jean-Baptiste and Carle-Andre (1705-65), all made successful careers in France. In addition Jean-Baptise himself had two painter sons, Louis-Michel (1707-71) and Charles-Amedee-Philippe (1719-95). Jean-Baptiste trained as a religious and mythological painter in Italy with Benedetto Luti (1666-1724), before settling in Paris in 1719. He made a brief visit to England from 1737-42, where his success as a portrait painter annoyed Hogarth so much that it provoked him into talking up portraiture himself. This is a version of the much-copied design, a variant of which was engraved in 1741.
Provenance
Presented to Queen Victoria
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
141.7 x 113.8 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
166.8 x 141.1 x 8.0 cm (frame, external)
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Subject(s)