Portrait of an artist, identified as Joseph Goupy (c.1680-c.1770), half-length, holding a landscape painting in the style of Salvator Rosa

The present work corresponds with a portrait known to have been painted by Dahl circa 1719 of his friend, the miniaturist and engraver, Joseph Goupy. The art historian, George Vertue records that in the portrait Goupy is 'Holding a small picture of a landscape (not very like nor very well)' (Vertue, B.M. Add. MSS. 23076, fol. 21d). Goupy was a fashionable drawing master who acted as an art advisor to the Prince of Wales as well as executing miniature copies in watercolor of Italian and other Old Master paintings. In 1737 Dahl gave evidence in court in support of Goupy in an action brought against him by John Hedges. In the witness box Dahl testified that in 1719 he painted the portrait of the artist but had given him £20 into the bargain in return for one of his pictures.