Circle of Thomas Hudson (English, 1701-1779) or Jonathan Richardson (English, 1667-1745), portrait of a gentleman with dog and sword. Subject is depicted in a fine brown velvet coat with gold buttons and braid, gold colored silk vest, and breeches, wearing a wig and seated with his elbow resting on a table, holding his left hand glove in his gloved right hand. The handle of his sword is visible at one side, and a dog looks up at him from his other side. Column and landscape with rolling clouds in background. Unsigned. Later inscription en verso attributes the painting to Thomas Hudson. Housed in an old but likely not original giltwood Rococo style frame. 48 1/2" x 38 1/2" sight, 55 1/2" x 46 1/2" frame. Provenance: Private Nashville, Tennessee collection. Biography: Jonathan Richardson was one of the most successful native-born English portraitists of the first decades of the eighteenth century. He owned a superb collection of Old Master drawings. His book, Theory of Painting, published in 1715, inspired the young Joshua Reynolds to become an artist. Devon-born Thomas Hudson trained under Jonathan Richardson, later marrying his daughter, and built a fashionable portrait painting practice thanks in part to influential friends including William Hogarth, with whom he travelled to France, Holland, and Flanders. He was known as both a portrait painter and art collector. (source: The National Portrait Gallery, London) CONDITION: Impact craquelure, 1 1/2" diameter, upper right quadrant (in landscape sky). 2" x 1" area of flaking at left center edge and a few more nearby scattered spots of paint loss up to 1/4" diameter. Relined. Frame is in fragile condition with several small losses.