Charles Boit

Charles Boit (10 August 1662, in Stockholm – 6 February 1727, in Paris) was a Swedish painter in vitreous enamels who mostly worked in England, Austria and France.

According to Swedish art historian Gunnar W. Lundberg, he probably studied in Sweden with Pierre Signac,[1] who had come from France in the mid-17th century and served as court enameller to Queen Christina.

[9] He is said to have been paid 30 guineas for a copy of Godfrey Kneller's portrait of Colonel John Seymour,[10] "for a lady's head, not larger, double that sum, and for a few plates 500 l."[11] "If this appears enormous", writes Walpole, introducing his next example of Boit's extraordinary prices, "what will the reader think of the following anecdote?"

This enamel, which was to be even larger than that of the Imperial family, concerned a commission on which he worked for many years on behalf of Queen Anne and Prince George, an allegory over the victory at Blenheim.

[12]Another large enamel, showing Queen Anne sitting and Prince George standing, is mentioned by Walpole[13] and is in the Royal Collection.

[14] At some point in 1714 or 1715, after the death of Queen Anne, his failed project for her caught up with him; asked to return the money he had been advanced, he fled to France to avoid imprisonment in the Marshalsea.

[20] Oil and enamel portraits of Boit are mentioned in the inventory made after the death of his wife, but none is known to exist today, only an engraving by Alexander Bannerman that was included in Walpole's Anecdotes.

[22] Martin van Meytens studied enamel painting with Boit in Paris in 1717 and later became a successful painter to the imperial court in Vienna.