ÉCOLE ANGLO-NÉERLANDAISE, 1563

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€ 163 800
Auction dateClassic
15.06.2023 15:00UTC +02:00
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CHRISTIE'S
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France, Paris
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ID 975031
Lot 1 | ÉCOLE ANGLO-NÉERLANDAISE, 1563
ÉCOLE ANGLO-NÉERLANDAISE, 1563

Portrait à mi-corps d'un homme

daté et inscrit 'ANNO DNI. 1563. AE. SVAE 22' (au centre, de part et d'autre des tempes du modèle)

huile sur panneau

96 x 70,1 cm. (37 3/4 x 27 1/2 in.)





Provenance

Probablement John Mordaunt (1508-1571), 2ème baronet, Drayton House ; puis par descendance dans la famille jusqu'à Lady Mary Mordaunt (vers 1659-1705), duchesse de Norfolk et 7ème baronesse Mordaunt, Drayton House ; puis par descendance à son deuxième mari,

Sir John Germain (1650-1718), 1er baronet, Drayton House ; puis par descendance à sa deuxième femme,

Lady Elizabeth 'Betty' Germain (1680-1769), Drayton House (selon H. Walpole, 1762, op. cit. infra).

Dowdeswell et Dowdeswell, Londres, jusqu'en 1916.

Vente anonyme, Christie's, Londres, 23 juin 1916, lot 70 (comme 'L. de Heere) ; d'où acquis par W. Lawell.

Julius Weitzner, Londres, en 1967.

Ancienne collection de Madame Henriette Stefani (1918-2019), Paris, depuis 1972.



Literature

H. Walpole, Anecdotes of Painting in England; with some account of the principal artists, Londres, 1762, I, p. 87 (comme 'Lucas de Heere').



Special notice


This item will be transferred to an offsite warehouse after the sale. Please refer to department for information about storage charges and collection
details.



Post lot text

ANGLO-DUTCH SCHOOL, 1563, HALF-LENGTH PORTRAIT OF A MAN, DATED AND INSCRIBED, OIL ON PANEL

Around 1762, the great connoisseur Horace Walpole (1717-1797) saw this painting at Drayton House, home of Lady Betty Germain (1680-1769), a notoriously ugly woman who inherited the house on the death of her second husband, Sir John Germain (1650-1717), illegitimate son of William II, Prince of Orange (1626-1650). In his famous book Anecdotes of Painting in England, Walpole observed that the portrait was of "strong colouring and in very fine condition" (see H. Walpole, op. cit., p.87). He believed it to be a painting by the Flemish painter Lucas de Heere (1534-1584), though this is clearly not the case. Although we do not know the name of the artist another portrait by the same hand in the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida (inv. no. SN928); dated 1565, this depicts Henry Macwilliam (1532-1586). It is likely that the present artist was Protestant painter from the continent who, like so many others, worked in England where his religion would not have been problematic.

It is very likely that this portrait depicts one of the sons of John Mordaunt, 2nd Bt. (1508-1571), who lived at Drayton House in 1563. It is not his eldest son, Lewis (1538-1601), who would have been 25 years old at the time the portrait was painted, but one of his younger brothers whose first names are not known. Several members of the Mordaunt family at this time were suspected of being Catholics; in 1586, the spy and favourite of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), Lord Walsingham (c. 1532-1590), reported that Lewis frequented the Red Lion, a pub on the banks of the Thames that was known as a Catholic nest; the following year Lewis was very reluctant to accept the death sentence of the Scottish queen, Mary Stuart (1542-1587). It is possible that these suspicions were an underlying consideration in the sitter's decision to be depicted wearing black and white, which were both the colours of the Mordaunt crest and those of Queen Elizabeth, thus underlining his allegiance to the crown.

We would like to thank Dr. Edward Town for his help in situating this portrait within its historical context on the basis of a photographic examination of the work.
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