It is in the Port Otago Gallery and this part of the exhibition is titled Profiler. The works are all portraits, a few of them sculptures. Dobson's oil painting is a notable success. Less is known about the artist than his sitter, although a little more than when I first looked into Dobson's life many years ago.
He was born in London, the son of a man of the same name who has been described as a ''decorative artist''. He was apprenticed to William Peake (c.1580 1639), no paintings by whom are certainly known but several of whose engravings survive.
It is thought Dobson was later in the studio of Francis Cleyn (c.1582 1658), a German born painter and tapestry designer who made his career in England. Cleyn had spent four years studying in Italy, which may be significant because Dobson's work has been considered Italianate.
Cleyn had been favoured by Charles, then the Prince of Wales and later King Charles I of England, which again seems significant for Dobson's career as he became very close to the court. Cleyn was also regarded as a second Titian and Dobson's work has been regarded as influenced by the Venetian's example.
It is thought Dobson had access to the Royal Collection, where he copied works by Titian (c.1488/90 1576) and Anthony van Dyck (1599 1641). Dobson has sometimes been called the English van Dyck, which was meant as a compliment, but both obscures his significance and the nature of his work which was more Italian than Flemish.
Van Dyck was Charles I's court painter, but died shortly before the English Civil War began. This was fought between supporters of the King, the ''Cavaliers'', and his claim to rule by divine right, and those of Parliament, the ''Roundheads'', eventually led by Oliver Cromwell.
After a battle at Turnham Green in November 1642, the King and his court retreated to Oxford where it seems Dobson was, too. Following the death of van Dyck, Dobson had gained more royal commissions.
He was made Serjeant Painter to the King and Groom of the Privy Chamber. He painted the Prince of Wales (later Charles II), the Duke of York and Prince Rupert of the Rhine - all notable Cavaliers. One of his best known portraits is of Endymion Porter, a Royalist who served his king as a diplomat.
There are about 60 known surviving works, mostly bust portraits like that of Charles Gerard. Ellis Waterhouse in the catalogue of a 1994 exhibition at the Tate Gallery called Dobson ''the most distinguished purely British painter before Hogarth''.
Waldemar Januszczac in a 1999 BBC documentary said he was ''the first British born genius, the first truly dazzling English painter''. After Oxford fell to the Roundheads in June of 1646, Dobson returned to London. He was now without patrons and was imprisoned for debt for a short time. He died in poverty aged 36.
He painted what is thought to be a portrait of his second wife, Judith, now in the Tate Gallery. On the anniversary of his birth in 2011, there were a number of exhibitions, a ''Dobson Trail'' of his works on a website and a BBC television profile by Januszczak called The Lost Genius of British Art: William Dobson.
For a long time, he really did seem to disappear. When Percy Halsted bought the Dunedin gallery's work in London in 1931 it was attributed to Peter Lely (1618 80), who remained much better remembered.
There may have been some disappointment when the Lely turned out to be a Dobson, but it remains a very fine work by an artist whose reputation has now been restored. The sitter seems rather less admirable. Charles Gerard (1618 94) was certainly a successful soldier.
For Charles I he harried the Welsh using Irish troops who were said to have committed atrocities. He marched through Wales from Chester and apparently laid waste to the country as he went. He was in Oxford in late 1644 and again in August 1645 when he was in the king's company. We don't know when Dobson painted him, but the suggested date is plausible.
After the Civil War, Gerard went into exile, but returned at the Restoration when his estates were returned to him.
He had litigious disputes with various people over titles and properties, where he appears to have been ruthless and perhaps dishonest.
The diarist Samuel Pepys said that as captain of the guard Gerard concealed the deaths of his troopers so he could continue collecting their pay. He summed him up as a ''proud and violent man''. In Dobson's portrait, he seems almost tender and in his Cavalier apparel very splendid.
Peter Entwisle is a Dunedin curator, historian and writer.
