Carl Fredrik von Breda
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"Lady Jane James, daughter of Charles Pratt, Lord Camden"
Signed "Breda pinx 1794". Relined canvas 128 x 102 cm.
Exhibitions
Exhibited on Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1794, cat. no 88, entitled "Portrait of a lady of quality".
More information
This portrait depicts Lady Jane James (1761(64)-1825, the daughter of Charles Pratt (1713-1794), the first Earl of Camden.
Jane is wearing a black silk dress with lots of delicate lace. Around her neck she wears a medallion with a portrait of a man, probably depicting her father or maybe her husband Sir Walter James, 1st Baronet of Langley Hall (1759–1829).
Carl Fredrik von Breda chose London for his residence abroad instead of Rome and Paris like many of his fellow artists did. In England, where he stayed for 9 years, he studied for the well-known portrait artist Joshua Reynolds. Reynolds inspired him a lot and von Breda’s style changed remarkably during the period, his specialty also became portraiture. The contact with Reynolds probably gave him a lot of prominent contacts in London such as Lady Jane James. The studio on St James’s Street was very frequented and he was a sought after portrait artist. Sometimes he was even called “The Swedish Van Dyck”.