(Clusone 1693–1758 Milan)
Portrait of a lady, bust- length, in a white embroidered dress and blue, fur-lined cape; and
Portrait of a gentleman, bust-length, in a grey doublet and red cloak,
both signed on the reverse: Bortolo Nazari fece. Venezia,
oil on copper, each 55.5 x 42.5 cm, framed, a pair

Provenance:
probably Thomas Chinnell Porter (circa 1770–1838), Birlingham House, Worcestershire (as Simon Verelst);
and by descent to Birlingham House and The Court House, Birlingham, until 2015;
sale, Christie’s, South Kensington, 29 October 2015, lot 194;
where acquired by the present owner

We are grateful to Bernard Aikema for confirming the attribution after inspection of the present paintings in the original.

These portraits on copper are significant additions to the oeuvre of the Bartolomeo Nazari. He is thought to have studied with Vittorio Ghislandi, called Fra Galgario. A fund left by Count Ferdinand Thurn und Taxis allowed Nazari to secure more formal training from the age of seventeen, when he was placed under the tutelage of Angelo Trevisani in Venice. In 1723, Nazari transferred to Rome, where he studied under Angelo’s brother Francesco Trevisani, as well as another celebrated portraitist – Benedetto Luti. Nazari returned to Venice the following year and in 1726 he is first recorded as a member of the Fraglia dei Pittori and in 1756, he became a founding member of the Venetian Academy. Among his patrons were Consul Joseph Smith and Marshal Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg.