Figure 1.--Here we see one of Puyl's portraits, an unidentified boy painted in 1786, perhaps one of the Pourtalès boys. The boy is dressed just as his father would have been dressed. The skeleton suit was the first dedicated boy's garment. And it was appearing at about he same time that this portrait was painted. Notice what looks like a plumed hat on the table.

Gerard (Louis Francois Gerard) van der Puyl was born in 1750 in Utrecht and studied under H.v. Velthoven. In 1770 he moved to France where he lived for many years. He lived in London (1785-88) and was the director of the Drawing Academy in Utrecht (1804- ). He was acompetent if not brilliant artist. He was a known portraitist during the time of the French Revolution painting portraits of the militarian, politicians, and aristocracy. And has left imortant portraitys of noted. figures of the era. Some of his family portraits are of inteest to HBC. A good example is Pourtalès family a wealthy Huguenot family in Switzerland.

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Created: 3:51 AM 6/29/2026
Last updated: 3:52 AM 6/29/2026