Portrait of a man

The time Gilman spent in Spain, mainly in Madrid where he haunted the Prado and was profoundly moved and influenced by the art of Velázquez, was perhaps responsible for his several studies of black sitters: The Black Gardener in The Garden Museum, London; a painting known as Portrait of an Algerian; and the present work, the most accomplished and most ‘Spanish’ of the three. Presumed to be a work from circa 1908, at this early date (before Glyn Philpot and Edward Burra) black models were relatively uncommon in England. The identity of this particular sitter is unknown. A few years later there was a particular model painted and drawn several times by Walter Sickert and others in London. 

We are very grateful to Dr Wendy Baron for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.