Allan Ramsay: The Enlightened Artist with Dr Eugene Barilo von Reisberg

The mid-eighteenth-century elite portrait specialist Allan Ramsay (1713-84) was the first Scottish painter to attain the highly prestigious post of the Principal Painter to the English Court. It is to him that we owe one of the most swaggering representations of the youthful King George III and some of the most sensitive portrayals of his wife Queen Charlotte. His portraits of royalty, aristocracy, as well as of Scottish social and cultural elites, are notable for the striking attention to individual physiognomic likeness, sensitive chiaroscuro, and superb technical facility in rendering tactile details of his clients’ fashionable attire. The widely travelled painter, poet, writer, and philosopher, Ramsay brought an international flair and the spirit of the Enlightenment to the British portrait painting as it transitioned from the grandeur of the Baroque and the intimacy of Rococo to the era of Romanticism.

Dr Eugene Barilo Von Reisberg is a Melbourne-based scholar and art adviser, who shares his passion for art, history, and culture from the eighteenth century to the present day through regular lectures and publications. He has completed a doctoral dissertation on Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-1873), the 19th-century elite portrait specialist, and is currently working towards a catalogue raisonné of the artist’s works. 

Your ticket includes tea or Market Lane coffee served before the presentation, and time to browse our exclusive range of books, gifts, and homewares at TJC Emporium.

This event is presented on-site at The Johnston Collection. Please see your ticket for details. NOTE: Tickets for this event do not include access to our house museum, Fairhall. Guided tours of the current exhibition can be booked separately.

This event is supported by The Colin Holden Charitable Trust.

Image: Queen Charlotte with her two eldest sons (detail), by Allan Ramsay (1713-84). Ca. 1764. Oil on canvas. Collection of HM King Charles III.