A favorite of mine, I found this handsome young gentleman with his inviting blue eyes in France and have enjoyed him at home for some years. The oil painting is on stretched linen canvas, and like many of the very old paintings, it has been lightly restored and the old weakened canvas bonded from behind to a sturdy new canvas to preserve it for another century or two. The fine quality of this young man's portrait would suggest to me a signature, but it is sometimes the case that signatures give way to a necessity to resize in order to save as much of the old painting as possible. Note his elegant attire, complete to a subtle embroidered vest. He does not have a frame, as you see, which never bothers anyone in France. Most people's walls are flush with unframed paintings, or you see them also lining the floor in a French apartment, as I do in this home (see photo of my dining room). Ready to display or to frame. Large, it is 32 1/2" x 26 3/8" on the old stretcher frame, which is just shy of 1" deep.
Very good to excellent condition for age and type, and subject to the above description of the restoration practice in France. Old canvas backed/adhered to a new and sturdier canvas in order to preserve the old artwork. I see no signature, but suspect an artist of this level of talent would have originally signed his or her work. Photos show all, including the full measurements.
