107 - Follower of Enoch Seeman,

Follower of Enoch Seeman, Polish/English 1689/90-1745- Portrait of Joseph Berens (1745-1825), half-length, with his hand in his waistcoat, wearing a brown jacket, red waistcoat, and white stock; oil on canvas, bears old label inscribed 'A Portrait of Joseph Berens / ... father of / Joseph Berens esq / of Kevington Kent' attached to the upper stretcher bar, 76.2 x 63.5 cm. Provenance: with Arthur Tooth & Sons, London. The Private Collection of the Berens Family. Note: Seeman was a prominent and prolific portraitist who, as court painter to the British royal family, depicted sitters including George II (1683-1760) and Queen Caroline of Ansbach (1683-1737). The present work recalls the artist's painting, for example, in the National Trust at Lacock Abbey [996298], and that of Francis Luttrell at Dunster Castle [726098]. Joseph Berens' father, the merchant Herman Berens (c.1702-1791), bought Kevington Hall in 1768, and immediately engaged Robert Taylor (1714-1788), the Bank of England’s architect, to design a new house. Indeed, the present work appears to be depicted in a photograph of the dining room of Kevington Hall from 1938 (see image 4).