John Hoppner, Captain George Porter, 1789. Oil paint on canvas; 93 × 57 1/4 in. (236.2 × 145.4 cm). Gift of the Berger Collection Educational Trust, 2019.6

image height: 93 in, 236.2200 cm; image width: 57 1/4 in, 145.415 cm; frame height: 103 1/2 in, 262.89 cm; frame width: 67 1/4 in, 170.815 cm; frame depth: 6 in, 15.2400 cm

European and American Art Before 1900

European Painting and Sculpture before 1900

This object is currently on view

George Porter grew up in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey), where his father was the British ambassador. This portrait alludes to that connection: the dome and towers of Hagia Sophia, the city's iconic sixth-century former church and mosque, are visible in the background. Captain Porter's fur-trimmed "long gown," as it's called, with its gold-embroidered waist-sash, was worn by British and European men when traveling in the Near East. 

Christie’s, London, June 23, 1933, lot 119 (as Portrait of the Hon. Basil Cochrane, second son of Alexander, 9th Earl Dundonald by G. Stuart); private collection, U.S.; Sotheby’s, New York, January 30, 1997, lot 54; from which acquired by William M. B. Berger and Bernadette Johnson Berger, Denver; Berger Collection Educational Trust; gifted to the Denver Art Museum, 2019. Provenance research is on-going at the Denver Art Museum and we will post information as it becomes available. Please e-mail provenance@denverartmuseum.org, if you have questions, or if you have additional information to share with us.