A small autograph version of the famous portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds in the RA, estimated $15,000-20,000 at Hindman.
It is part of the collection of the late of Charles Fleischmann III, the great-grandson of Charles Fleischmann, co-founder of Fleischmann Yeast Co and a board member of several Cincinnati arts institutions.
Reynolds produced around 30 self-portraits over his career - as befitting his interest in Rembrandt whose portrait prints, in particular, were revered in Britain at this time.
In this image, which borrows its composition from Rembrandt’s Aristotle contemplating a Bust of Homer, Reynolds celebrated his role as the first president of the RA.
The 4ft (1.2m) finished rectangular version in the RA was painted specifically to hang in the academy’s new assembly room at Somerset House.
This unsigned oil on mahogany panel is painted as an oval and is a fraction of the size at 10 x 8in (27 x 20cm).
With a provenance dating back to a Christie’s sale of pictures from the Carlton House Terrace and Kensington Palace Gardens homes of the De Murrieta family in January 1893, it was purchased by Fleischmann for his Indian Hill home from the Berry- Hill Galleries in New York in 1963.
At Hindman it has an estimate of $15,000-20,000.
