‘Portrait of George Oakley Aldrich’ by Pompeo Batoni

This portrait of an Oxford fellow by an unknown artist was hanging in the Bodelian Library, covered in layers of dirty varnish and disguising overpaint.

After treatment at Simon Gillespie Studio: the painting has been recognised as a work by the great 18th century Grand Tour portraitist Pompeo Batoni, making it one of the most important paintings in the Bodleian Library’s collection.

An almost unique feature was revealed in the course of treatment: Pompeo Batoni had depicted the sitter, George Oakley Aldrich, with facial disfigurement. This is extremely rare in portraiture as artists and sitters largely tended to want to leave out any imperfections - much as professional photographers (and indeed, you and I) might do today with airbrushing on our photos and selfies. This facial disfigurement had been concealed with later overpaint, perhaps applied by someone who thought that the appearance was a damage in the paint itself, or whose idea of perfect beauty made them decide to conceal the sitter’s imperfection. We are very pleased to have brought the portrait back to how it was intended by the artist and sitter. The fact that Aldrich was a doctor may have informed his decision to show himself as he truly was, without shame. It’s a wonderfully honest and human portrait by a man who contributed to advances in medical sciences.

Below are some other portraits by Pompeo Batoni which you can find on the Art UK website. Two feature Batoni’s unmistakeable depiction of fur. The oval of Aldrich’s head and bust would have been a less expensive portrait to commission than these three quarter-length and full-length portraits. You can read more about Batoni’s portraits here.