Although unsigned, this  painting of the highest quality attributed as absolutely authentic work of the famous 18th century Swiss-German portraitist Anton Graff. Comparisons with his paintings convincingly confirm this statement.

Anton Graff (1736 Winthertur, 1813 Dresden). Swiss painter, active in Germany. He was a pupil of Johann Ulrich Schellenburg (1709–95) in Winterthur and continued his training with Johann Jakob Haid in Augsburg between 1756 and 1765. He worked for the court painter Leonhard Schneider (1716–62) in Ansbach from 1757 to 1759, producing large numbers of copies of a portrait of Frederick the Great (probably by Antoine Pesne).  Among his famous subjects were Friederick  Schiller, Christoph Willibald  Gluck, Heinrich von Kleist and Fredrick the Great .  This was an important step in furthering his career. The months he spent in Regensburg (1764–5) painting miniatures of clerics and town councillors. He was court painter to the Elector Frederick-Christian of Saxe-Weimar in Dresden from 1766 and taught at the Hochschule der Bildende Künste there. In 1771 he travelled to Berlin, where he painted portraits of Jakob Mendelssohn, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and J. G. Sulzer. Sulzer introduced him at court, which resulted in many commissions. He was invited several times to teach at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin, but he remained in Dresden. He often travelled to Leipzig, and in summer he frequently went to Teplitz (now Teplice, Czech Republic) and Karlsbad (now Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic); he also worked in Berlin on several occasions and returned to Switzerland for visits. Graff was one of the most important painters of his time. Some 2000 of his works survive.

Inscription: unsigned , reverse indistinctly incriptions (s.Photo)

Technique: oil on canvas. Old luxuriousy gold-plated  frame.

Measurements: unframed w 17 1/4" x h 20 1/2" (44 x 52 cm), framed w 26 1/4" x h 29 1/4" (66,5 x 74,5 cm)

Condition: in good condition, original canvas