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This recent acquisition was causing some excitement and intrigue, when the label on verso suggested it might be by the C18th artist Johann Zoffany, famed for these two pictures:

The Tribuna of the Uffizi

The Royal Collection, Windsor Castle

Charles Towneley in his Sculpture Gallery - 1782

Reaseach from Sotheby's has suggested it is attributed to Lemuel Francis Abbott (1760-1803), who died at the young age of 40, of insanity, and who was treated by the same physician who treated mad King George, (the Third), Dr Thomas Munro. Lemuel Abbott is himself more famous for the portrait of Lord Nelson, (below) hanging in the Terracotta Room of 10 Downing Street.

 

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson

My portrait is of Sir James Allen, a merchant in the city of London, and is late C18th.

I was much taken with the detail in the portrait, including these:

For anyone familiar with the BBC programme House of Cards, starring the late Ian Richardson, there is a remarkable resemblance between the two gentlemen.

Sir James Allen

Ian Richardson as Francis Urquhart, House of Cards.

This trail of research has been a rather interesting one, and luckily finding the provenance has not resulted in the line that Francis Urquhart was renowned for saying in the TV drama:

'You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment'. Not Zoffany, but Abbott. I'm very amused about that. The Z to A of painters, if you will.