Dimensions: support: 762 x 635 mm
Copyright: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: This is "Portrait of Robert Colman," painted by an artist of the British School in the 17th century. Note the scale, roughly 76 x 63 centimeters. The oil paint is layered to capture Colman's likeness. Editor: The immediate impression is one of restrained opulence; it's a study in textures, with the sheen of the fabric juxtaposed against the softness of his wig. Curator: Indeed, the materials speak to Colman’s status. Consider the labor involved in producing that wig, the fabric of his robe, signs of wealth of the time. Editor: Portraits like these served specific social functions, reinforcing status and projecting an image of authority. They were essentially early forms of public relations. This one currently lives at the Tate. Curator: It makes me wonder about the source of the pigment, its trade routes, and the craftsman who ground it. It highlights the commodification of art. Editor: Absolutely, and the portrait’s journey through history has shaped its meaning. It is fascinating to consider its role in constructing and perpetuating social hierarchies. Curator: A compelling interplay of material and meaning. Editor: It certainly encourages reflection on the power of representation.
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/british-school-17th-century-beale-portrait-of-robert-colman-t07240
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This work, together with portraits thought to depict the sitter's wife Dionesse and his kinsman Richard Colman (Tate T07241 and TO7113), comes from a group of family pictures which were formerly at Brent Eleigh Hall, near Sudbury in Suffolk. The antiquarian Rev. Edmund Farrer viewed the collection in 1903, shortly before it was partially dispersed. Farrer identified the sitter as Robert Colman (1655 or 6-1730), the son of Robert Colman and his wife Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Robert Mott of Colchester in Essex (G. Gery Milner-Gibson, Genealogical Notes Relating to the Family of Cullum, London 1928, p.20). Robert married his cousin Dionesse Cullum, probably only a few months before her death in 1697. An outdoor altar-tomb against the south wall of St Mary's church at Brent Eleigh formerly bore on its top surface an inscription giving the dates of her death, and that of the sitter 33 years later at the age of 74. His will (proved 30 May 1730) described him as 'Robert Colman gent, of Furnivalls Inn, London.' A mid-twentieth-century attribution to the painter Mary Beale (1633-99) is not borne out by the handling of this work. The sitter's attire, notably the knotted neck cloth, is datable to around 1690. Further Reading Rev. Edmund Farrer, Portraits in Suffolk Houses (West), London 1908, p.46, no. 9 Karen HearnFebruary 2001
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