Dr. Isaac Schomberg

Maker Thomas Hudson (British, 1701-1779)

SitterSitter: Dr. Isaac Schomberg (British, 1714 - 1780)

Additional Title(s)

Man in a Gray Coat

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Dateca.1750-1760

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensions29 5/8 x 24 3/4 in. (75.2 x 62.9 cm.)

DescriptionThis is a half-length portrait of Dr. Isaac Schomberg (1714–1780), a physician of German origins who practiced medicine in London.

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Status

On view

Label TextWith his hat secured under one arm and his hand tucked into his vest, Isaac Schomberg's pose is a textbook illustration of stately formality. A foreign-born doctor who struggled for many years to obtain a license to practice in England, Schomberg had become a naturalized citizen in 1750. This portrait illustrates his desire to assimilate into his adopted country and assume its codes of respectability. He wears an ultraconservative wig and a tight-fitting velvet coat, a fashionable English cut of the late 1750s.

Bibliography

British paintings at the Huntington

Object number33.1