Philippe Mercier (German, 1689-1760), Boy drinking

Lot description

Philippe Mercier (German, 1689-1760) A youth drinking wine by candlelight from a glass, and holding a flask Oil on canvas Circa 1750 Philip Mercier was born in Berlin, the son of a Huguenot tapestry worker of French extraction who worked for the Elector of Brandenburg (later, 1701, King Frederick of Prussia). Little is documented about his early life, but Vertue tells us that he studied under the French portraitist Antoine Pesne (“Monsieur Pené”) and at the Prussian Royal Academy before embarking on a European tour through Italy and France. He arrived in England in 1716, “recommended from the Court at Hanover” where, presumably, he had been working since his return from the Grand Tour. Until 1728, Mercier gives the ineluctable impression that he was endeavouring to establish a profitable niche for himself in the London art scene – a scene which was largely moribund in the last dull attenuated gasps of the late Baroque style of Kneller and his followers. The arrival of Prince Frederick from Germany on 7 December 1728 marked a turning point in his fortunes. Mercier was appointed Principal Painter to the prince on 6 February 1729. Mercier's prosperity from royal patronage was not to last many years: he was quarrelling with Zincke (whom Frederick wanted to make Principal Painter) as early as 1729, and in 1734 he fell out with Van Der Myn over the right to teach the princesses to draw. Having lost a royal income of £380 per annum, Mercier retired to the country – probably to Northamptonshire, to be near his friend and patron Samwell, and Vertue tells us that he considered giving up painting altogether. After a brief return to London, where it became apparent that he could not compete as a portraitist with the glamorous generation of painters (Van Loo, Ramsay, Hogarth et al) whose careers had burgeoned in the 1730's, he moved north to York, where he settled from October 1739. His move north marked a change of emphasis in his career, as he concentrated less on portraits and more on the painting of “fancy” or genre pictures. His success was immediate and palpable, and he was patronised by many of the leading nobility of the county: he took a “convenient sash'd house with a large garden, coach house and stable” within the Cathedral precincts. He resided in York for 13 years, with occasional tours further afield: to Ireland in 1747 and Scotland in 1750 (from which trip the present paitning may date, given its Scots provenance), until he decided to rent out his house 1751, and two sales were held of his domestic effects and 27 of his pictures on 22 August 1751. He then returned to London before travelling to Portugal to paint portraits of the English merchant colony there. Mercier's last decade saw the publication of numerous prints after his work, but essentially taste was changing away from the French Watteau-esque style which he exemplified in England. He lived long enough to exhibit at the inaugural exhibition of the Society of Artists. Provenance: Private collection, Scotland, by descent. Dimensions: (Canvas) 30 in. (H) x 25 in. (W)