id: 108522 accession number: 1926.229 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1926.229 updated: 2022-04-02 09:00:08.856000 Portrait of a Man, c. 1795–1800. Nicholas Freese (British, 1762-after 1824). Watercolor on ivory in a gold frame with glazed hair reverse and opalescent glass over pressed foil and cut gold (or cut paper); framed: 7.6 x 6.5 cm (3 x 2 9/16 in.); unframed: 7 x 5.8 cm (2 3/4 x 2 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of J. H. Wade, Jr., G. G. Wade and Mrs. E. B. Greene 1926.229 title: Portrait of a Man title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1795–1800 creation date earliest: 1795 creation date latest: 1800 current location: creditline: Gift of J. H. Wade, Jr., G. G. Wade and Mrs. E. B. Greene copyright: --- culture: England, late 18th century technique: watercolor on ivory in a gold frame with glazed hair reverse and opalescent glass over pressed foil and cut gold (or cut paper) department: European Painting and Sculpture collection: P - British before 1800 type: Portrait Miniature find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Nicholas Freese (British, 1762-after 1824) - artist --- measurements: Framed: 7.6 x 6.5 cm (3 x 2 9/16 in.); Unframed: 7 x 5.8 cm (2 3/4 x 2 5/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America opening date: 1993-03-26T04:00:00 Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-October 17, 1993). title: Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives opening date: 2013-11-10T00:00:00 Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 10, 2013-February 16, 2014). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Main European Rotation (Gallery 202), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 30, 2012 - July 23, Verso on display). --- PROVENANCE J. H. Wade (1857-1926), Cleveland, OH, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: 1895-1926 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1926- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The back contains a lock of hair arranged as a wheat sheaf cinched with a gold ribbon, over (now cracked) white opalescent glass. digital description: wall description: Little biographical information is available about Nicholas Freese, who is often referred to as N Freese. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy from 1794 to 1814. Royal Academy records identify him as a “painter” rather than a “miniature painter.”
The unknown gentleman in this portrait is painted bust length in three-quarter view and facing right. He wears a blue coat with gold buttons over a white waistcoat and frilled cravat. His eyes are brown, and his powdered hair is worn en queue. There is a slightly yellow pallor to his complexion, and his nose is aquiline. The background is pale gray with a hint of green, executed with crosshatching, particularly near the edges. Freese combined watercolor with gouache, as is visible in the opaque white edges of the frilled cravat. He painted the hair using a technique in which watercolor pigment was applied then lifted away with a brush, creating channels suggesting thick, soft tendrils. The sitter’s bland, pleasant expression is not particularly individualized. His powdered hair and costume indicate that this miniature was executed around 1795–1800, when powdered hair was becoming increasingly unfashionable. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Korkow, Cory, and Jon L. Seydl. British Portrait Miniatures: The Cleveland Museum of Art. 2013. page number: url: Korkow, Cory, and Jon L. Seydl. British Portrait Miniatures: The Cleveland Museum of Art. 2013. page number: Cat. no. 60, pp. 236-239 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1926.229/1926.229_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1926.229/1926.229_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1926.229/1926.229_full.tif