Out for a Stroll

This finely drawn half-length portrait shows a noble gentleman taking a stroll on a cloudy day through a garden landscape. Holding a cane, he wears a collarless coat over a buttoned-up waistcoat, a shirt with lace cuffs and a stock.

Meticulously drawn in plumbago on vellum in John Taylor’s distinctive style, the portrait resides in a traditional turned wood frame and dates to around 1770-1780.

The son of a London customs officer, John Taylor studied at St Martin’s Lane Academy before moving to Oxford where he forged a career painting portraits of the undergraduates and academics. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and the British Institution between 1780 and 1838. Affectionately known as ‘Old Taylor’, he was in his 99th year when he died.