The portrait of an unknown sitter is a rare example of a fully worked up portrait drawn from a living sitter.

It dates from the period of Dadd's confinement in Bethlem or Broadmoor hospital. The portrait demonstrates the artist's exceptional use of stippling with the point of the brush, a technique more common in miniaturist's work.

Provenance

Recently discovered before 1994 by sitter's grandson; private collector; Davis & Langdale Company, New York; Peter Nahum, Leicester Galleries.


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