Isaac Fuller Portrait Do-Over

a 17th century portrait painting of a longhaired white guy with delicate features, looking up and to his right, with his hand on his chest, where it partially covers the upside down face of another person, painted somewhat larger, but with a similar longhaird white guy vibe. in a black and gilt frame, by isaac fuller, from christie's c. 2021
Isaac Fuller, portraits, 17th c sometime, I guess, oil on canvas, 18 3/8 x 14 1/2 in., sold at Christie’s in 2021

I don’t know anything about 17th century English painter Isaac Fuller, except that he has a dozen paintings attributed to him at the National Portrait Gallery. And, according to the brief text accompanying this painting at Christie’s in 2021, he was a “flamboyant painter,” and a “notorious drunkard” with a “bohemian lifestyle” whose fresco in All Souls at Oxford was “too full of nakeds” to last, and whose last series of works consisted of “decorative schemes” for a string of taverns he frequented.

a 17th century portrait painting of a longhaired white guy over the portrait of another longhaired white guy, but turned 180 degrees so that the underpainting is upright. the body of either figure is faintly sketched out, and perhaps was lost in the restoration process that uncovered the earlier portrait. or maybe the painter isaac fuller did all the work on the face, and in the case of the overpainting, the hand, and never got to finishing either one. via christies

None of that is quite as interesting as this picture, two pictures, really, one on top of and around the other. The portrait underneath, which is now upside down, was uncovered in a recent restoration, says Christie’s. The way it’s been uncovered to keep as much of each portrait intact does make it feel like a deliberate composition, not just an overpainting. Like that extraordinary Ludolf Backhuysen seascape painted around that Isaack Luttichuys portrait that Simon Dickinson brought to TEFAF this year.

What was up in the late 17th century that painters were piling paintings on top of each other, though?

8 Dec 2021, Lot 183 | Isaac Fuller, Portrait of a gentleman, with another portrait underneath, nd, est. GBP 25-35,000, sold for GBP 30,000 [christies]