A full-length Portrait of a Gentleman in red Coat holding a Gun standing in a Landscape, his Dog at Heel and a View to a Country House in the Distance

Circle of JAMES MILLAR              

Fl. 1763-1805

English School

A full-length Portrait of a Gentleman in red Coat holding a Gun standing in a Landscape, his Dog at Heel and a View to a Country House in the Distance

Oil on canvas 

198.2 x 139.6 cms

78 x 55 inches           

The birth date of this successful Birmingham based portrait painter is not known but he is mentioned first in public records in the Birmingham Poor Law Levy Books of 1763 and later in the Birmingham Trade Directory 1800-1801.

He was probably the leading Birmingham portrait painter of the last quarter of the eighteenth century and in this subject had a considerable stylistic range from life-size full lengths to conversation pieces on a much smaller scale. He also painted landscapes and dogs and horses which he often included in his portraits as well as historical subjects.

Millar was commissioned to paint an altar-piece for Christ Church in Birmingham for £100 but failed to complete it before his death in Handsworth on 5th December 1805. Some of his work was engraved by W Angur. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and the Society of Artists in London between 1771 and 1790 with titles such as: "A Portrait; Dr. Priestley", "Shylock and Portia", "A Lady at Confession" and "Sketch of Fish from Nature". Examples are held in Birmingham City Art Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, the Fitzwilliam, Lichfield Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art (formerly the Mellon Collection)


Bibliography:

Dictionary of British 18th Century Painters - Ellis Waterhouse

Dictionary of Portrait Painters in Britain up to 1920 - Brian Stewart and Mervyn Cutten

Dictionary of British Sporting Painters - Sydney H. Pavier

Dictionary of British Sporting Artists 1650-1990 - Mary Ann Wingfield.