An Unknown Man, possibly Henry Cavendish (1550-1616)
British (English) School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1590 - 1599
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1029 x 838 mm (40 1/2 x 33 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
NT 1129097
Caption
Henry Cavendish (1550-1616), was the reprobate eldest son of Sir William Cavendish (1505?-1557) and Bess of Hardwick (c.1527-1608). He married Grace Talbot (1562- after 1625) in 1567, the third daughter of his step-father George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury (c.1528-1590). He had no legitimate children, but was described by one contemporary as ‘the common bull to all Derbyshire.’ This sitter was formerly identified as Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury (1553-1616), Bess of Hardwick’s stepson and son-in-law, but it cannot be he. The sitter in the present picture, painted in the 1590's, is middling class, not a nobleman, and must be aged forty or over, by which age the 7th Earl had the Garter (admitted in 1592). Moreover, there is no resemblance to other known portraits of him.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, An Unknown Man, possibly Henry Cavendish (1550-1616), British (English) School, 1590s. A three-quarter-length portrait, turned slightly to the left, head facing, receding hair, moustache and small pointed beard, wearing black dress and white lawn ruff, standing by a table on which he rests his right hand on a glove.
Provenance
By descent until, following the death of the 10th Duke of Devonshire (1895 - 1950), Hardwick Hall and its contents were accepted by HM Treasury in part payment of death duties and transferred to the National Trust, in 1959
Marks and inscriptions
on frame - Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury
Makers and roles
British (English) School, artist previously catalogued as attributed to Rowland Lockey (c.1565 – London 1616), artist