Details
CHARLES WAUTIER (MONS 1609-1703 BRUSSELS)
Portrait of a gentleman, three-quarter-length, in a cuirass with one arm resting on a helmet
signed and dated 'C. WAUTIER. F./ 1656' (center left, on the column)
oil on canvas, unframed
4434 x 34 in. (114 x 86.4 cm.)
Provenance
Paul G. Gross (1899-1966), Portland, Oregon, and by descent in the family, from whom acquired in 2021 by the present owner.
Special notice
This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.
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Lot Essay

Given the evident military iconography included in the present portrait - the cuirass, helmet and commander's baton - it is a very likely that the sitter was serving with the Spanish forces in the Netherlands at the date at which the portrait was executed. In 1656, the second phase of the Franco-Spanish War was still dragging on, though the two antagonists were exhausted, and neither were able to establish dominance. It was in this same year that Wautier painted James, Duke of York, later King James II of England, who spent the period from 1656 to the Restoration in Flanders serving with the Spanish (Royal Collection, London, inv. no. RCIN 402572).

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