William Dobson
1643
Oil paint on canvas
135.5 x 143.1 cm
This rare double portrait was long thought to represent a father and son. However, the sitters have recently been identified as John Taylor (left) and John Denham (right), poets at the English court. The stone mask beneath Denham’s hand alludes to their association with the arts.
William Dobson, one of the first English portraitists, succeeded the Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck as painter to King Charles I in 1641. Dobson’s promising career was cut short by the disruption of the English Civil War (which started in 1642) and his early death.