Blank greetings card with envelope featuring:

John Simpson NPG 1485

© National Portrait Gallery, London

by Angelica Kauffmann

Portraits are sometimes about disguise or play-acting. This example shows an eighteenth-century sitter - John Simpson - in theatrical 'van Dyck' style costume with slashed doublet, lace collar and extravagant plumed hat. Such seventeenth-century costume had been popular at fancy-dress parties as well as in portraiture since the 1730s. Here the historic style is contrasted with a sculptured pedestal, with a relief of a grieving woman which reflects the rise of sentimental, neo-classical taste in the 1770s.

Card size: 125mm x 175mm

Images are printed in their original proportions, within a white border.