Lot 2249 Dα

Gerard Soest, also known as Gerald Soest, was a portrait painter active in England in the late 17th century. At first it was assumed that he was from Soest in Westphalia, but he was probably Dutch by birth and education and born in Soest, Holland. He appears to have lived in England in the late 1640s. His earliest known work is dated 1646. Characteristic of his portraits are landscape details in the background, which seem more English than Dutch. This is also the case in the present portrait.