General Conyers makes some rambling reflections on Dogdene:

“Then there is the Veronese (see our post  Constable, Pepys, and Veronese at Dogdene). Geoffrey Sleaford has been advised to have it cleaned, but won’t hear of it. Young fellow called Smethyck told him. Smethyck saw our Van Troost and said it was certainly genuine.” [ALM 226/227]

Portrait of a Member of the Van der Mersch Family, Cornelis Troost, 1736
oil on panel, 29″ x 23″
Rijks Museum, Amsterdam

General Conyers is referring to a painting by Cornelis Troost (Dutch 1697-1750). Troost was one of the foremost Dutch painters of the eighteenth century. Living his entire life in Amsterdam, many of his early commissions were portraits. We show a portrait with a cello to honor General Conyers’ affinity for this instrument. Later Troost painted theater scenes and, during the 1740’s, many military subjects.