GEORGE ENGLEHEART

The period of Engleheart’s career in which this portrait was painted is said by Foskett to be that when he was ‘at the height of his power[1]’. Between around 1795 and 1800, he signed, as he has here, with a cursive ‘E’ on the front of the miniature, and gave a more lengthy inscription on the reverse. At this point, Engleheart had moved past his rather exaggerated, large-eyed, and cartoon-like depictions of sitters; however had not yet begun to paint them in an ultra-realistic and sometimes unflattering light, as he did later on in his career. It was also at the turn of the century that the skin tone of Engleheart’s portraits began to take on a yellowish tone, which can be seen especially in the cheeks of this unknown gentleman. 

Engleheart had trained under George Barrett, R.A., and Sir Joshua Reynolds, and became one of the most sought-after miniature painters of his generation. Slightly junior to contemporaries John Smart (1741-1811) and Richard Cosway (1742-1821), he competed in a saturated market, though the sheer number of commissions that he recorded in his fee book are testament to the success of his art.

[1]   D. Foskett, Dictionary of Miniatures, 1972, vol.1, p.262.