a lovely portrait :) and very nice colours. His brown garb certainly compliments his own features quite nicely.

Thank you, Decapo.

*hugs and gives cookies* i love the portrait and i really love the expression.

Thanks, Simple. The idea of doing a portrait from the 18th Century resulted from my watching the TV mini-series "John Admas" DVDs. As for the expression ... well it pretty much gives an idea of my fursonna's personality.

Fascinating.

I hope so.

ooh how regal :3

Thanks. That is very kind of you to say.

Except he wouldn't be smiling. People never seemed to smile in these portraits. Why so serious?

As I was submitting the pic to FA, I thought of that. In the 18th Century nobody ever grinned for a portrait. A woman might smile, but a man never. Aside from the fact that it would be painful to grin for eight hours a day for a week or two while the painter captured the look, a lot of people back then, including the wealthy, had terrible oral hygiene.

The trandition of not smiling for offical portraits, even photographs has continued. In a survey of class pictures, students smiled less and less as they went from the lower grades to the higher ones. By college or university hardly anyone was smiling in thier graduation pictures -- since smiling is taken as being a sign of a frivious and childish personality, someone not to be trusted with important tasks. Welcome to the wonderful world of being a Grown-Up.

Sometimes posing hours for a portrait can be a pain.

Steampunk Lion!!

No streampunk in the 18th Century, lion. Steam engines and wonderful science did not come about until the 19th Century.

Still, it's like it! Plus he looks like a very handsome and educated lion. Maybe a lion who INVENTS steam engines! :)

You were correct and I was wrong, Leo !

Thomas Newcomen developed the first practical steam engine south of Scotland around 1710-1712 (the early part of the 18th Century) and so the first steampunk could have been as early as that. *Gives you a gold star and promotes you the head of the class*

My lionmorph here could have been a companion of Newcomen's and between them began tinkering with all the cast-off parts in Newcomen's workshop and ... voila! Steampunk!

So, will your next image be a study in scarlet?

An excellent portrait Lionus! *hugs* By the way his eyebrows look, I think the artist must have been making some rather odd comments.

Always thought the bright red (scarlet?) uniform of British army officers in the 18th and early 19th Centuries were very attractive considering the occupation they were engaged in.

Did you know that the decks of English warships in the age of sail were often painted red so that the crews would not lose courage at the sight of all spilled blood during a sea battle?

As for that raised eyebrow ... it probably reflects an amused regard of the subject for the artist and his task.

It's nice to learn something new!

Well, I ended up imagining that this was some ancestor of Lionus's (your character) who was listening to an artistic ancestor of Freaky's go on about some scheme or another - or possibly some designs he'd made for a flying machine.

I’ll have to admit that a ridiculous idea like flying machines) would have appealed to someone in Freaky‘s family. Or at least selling the idea to some hapless sucker.

For example, way back in the late 1860’s Maurice Foxx, one of Freaky’s continental ancestors, sold a really stupid story idea for five francs to a Frenchman named Verne, or something like that, about a “boat that might travel under the sea powered by the energy of the sun”.

Some people are so gullible. Maurice laughed all the way home.

Very nice work....

Thank you, Jvanankat.

This is the first portrait I've ever seen where the painted subject looks... suggestive. XD Very nice!

All good art works at presenting an idea to its viewers/listeners for them to complete the story from their own imaginations, LionBreed.

Thank very much for the compliment.

Awwwww such a regal lion you are <3 *hugs*

*bows in thanks to you*

<3

What dignified looking lion, he does have an interesting outfit here. I'm fond of the frilled bow-tie and under vest he's wearing, I think his brown leather could use a little more detail though. Also the way you rendered his hair caught my eye, especially as it appears more detailed in the light. Another great work lionus, keep it up pal.

On a side note you mentioned the clothing people wore in past centuries were interesting, I agree. I've found the clothing style of the Victorian age to be a bit interesting.

From the stately senatorial toga to the formal dress of the Victorian Era, how people dressed told everyone who they were, what place they occupied in society and showed an appreciation of cultured behavior. Oddly enough this extended to the battle field where ranks of brightly “costumed” soldiers fired volleys into the ranks of another country’s brightly “costumed” soldiers facing them from sixty yards or less away.
*Ouch!*

Still interesting clothes make for interesting pictures to see and to do.

Actually, if I were to go back and “fix” this pic I would add a very soft pattern of some sort to his vest while making the material somewhat shinier -- sort of like satin. The coat I would leave plain and dull as if it were for outdoor wear (which would make a nice contrast with his vest). Unlike the European aristocrats of the 17th and 18th Centuries, this lion was from the much plainer stock of the American colonies and so “flashy” clothes there were not that popular or Politically Correct.

Thanks for the praise, Raithwal. It’s very much appreciated.

I just so love these styles of furry art and would love to have one done of me someday when I get the money!

I'm such an old romantic at heart!

The portraits that were painted two hundred or so years ago portrayed elegance and formality. Portraits painted today seem more to portray a more casual atmosphere.

Personally, like you, I prefer the Old World style of portraiture that seems to say, ‘this is an important person’.

That's nice, it reminds me of Dorian Gray a bit. Handsome too.

*blinks* Well now that you mentioned it, yes it could very well pass for a portrait of Dorian Gray.

Keen observation.

:D It looks great ^_^ Ya done purdy as my grampa used to say!

*grins*

^_^