Portraits were often made beforehand, save for the face. It cut down the time needed for posing drastically. And often the faces were done by the master, the rest by students in his workshop. Perhaps this is what happened here, they just never got round to the posing part.
Reminds me of this painting in Bruges: https://www.museabrugge.be/collection/work/id/0000_gro0401_i The face of the guy next to Napoleon was painted well before the rest of the work and then literally cut and pasted in to the new painting. You can still see the square.
Portraits were often made beforehand, save for the face. It cut down the time needed for posing drastically. And often the faces were done by the master, the rest by students in his workshop. Perhaps this is what happened here, they just never got round to the posing part.
Reminds me of this painting in Bruges: https://www.museabrugge.be/collection/work/id/0000_gro0401_i The face of the guy next to Napoleon was painted well before the rest of the work and then literally cut and pasted in to the new painting. You can still see the square.
Yes! Same thing with this painting of the treaty of Nijmegen.
The artist first drew the scene and then added in the portraits of the participants.
Thanks for adding that context!
I’m know it will come off as US centric but I think the guy from your link should get points off for just copy and pasting George Washington