Elizabeth Murray, Countess of Dysart (1626-1698), with her First Husband, Sir Lionel Tollemache (1624-1669), and her Sister, Margaret Murray, Lady Maynard (c.1638-1682)
Joan Carlile (c.1606 - 1679)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1648
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1092 x 927 mm (43 x 36 1/2 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Ham House, Surrey
NT 1139727
Caption
‘And in Oyl Colours we have a virtuous example in that worthy Artiste Mrs. Carlile’, wrote William Sanderson in Graphice … or, The most Excellent Art of Painting (1658). Joan Carlile, then in her early fifties, was probably self-taught. Greatly influenced by the work of Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), like her younger contemporary Mary Beale she appears initially to have painted for pleasure until the family’s financial situation led to her opening a studio in the artist’s quarter of Covent Garden in London in 1653. Occupying the centre of this unusual family portrait (opposite) is Elizabeth Murray, Countess of Dysart, who would later inherit Ham House in Richmond. The Carlile and Murray families were neighbours and the park at Richmond is the likely setting of this painting. The two families were already acquainted through the court as Joan’s husband, Lodowick, and Elizabeth’s father, William Murray, were Grooms of the Privy Chamber and Bedchamber respectively to Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria. Despite the awkward arrangement of the figures, the individual heads are skilfully and delicately rendered, and the lustrous silk fabrics and jewels painted in a rapid, confident manner. The painting has an experimental quality and probably began life as a portrait of the two sisters. Conservation work in 2019 revealed a thinly painted tree trunk in the space between Lionel and Elizabeth, suggesting that the figure of Lionel may have been added as the composition progressed. Following her death, Carlile was talked of as a noted copyist of Old Masters for the royal court. Her only known works today, however, are portraits, ranging from small oils on panel or copper (including one of Elizabeth’s mother, Catherine) to the type of full-length portrait seen here.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Elizabeth Murray, Countess of Dysart (1626-1698), with her first Husband, Sir Lionel Tollemache (1624-1669), and her Sister, Margaret Murray, Lady Maynard (c.1638-1682), by Joan Carlile (c. 1606 - Petersham 1679), circa 1648. Three full-length portraits, two standing and one seated.Sir Lionel standing on left, turned to right, facing his wife Elizabeth Dysart standing centre, turned to right, her head glancing over her right shoulder, Lady Maynard, seated right, facing, looking slightly to right.
Full description
The artist's family were Richmond neighbours of the Murrays, and the park at Richmond is the likely setting of this painting. The two families were already acquainted through the court as Joan’s husband, Lodowick, and Elizabeth’s father, William Murray, were Grooms of the Privy Chamber and Bedchamber respectively to Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria. Despite the awkward arrangement of the figures, described by Horace Walpole as ‘squab’, the individual heads are skilfully and delicately rendered, and the lustrous silk fabrics and jewels painted in a rapid, confident manner. The painting has an experimental quality and probably began life as a portrait of the two sisters. Conservation work in 2019 revealed a thinly painted tree trunk in the space between Lionel and Elizabeth, suggesting that the figure of Lionel may have been added as the composition progressed. Following her death Carlile was talked of as a noted copyist of Old Masters for the royal court. Her only known work today, however, is of her own invention and spans small portraits on panel or copper to a reduced type of full-length such as seen here.
Provenance
Seen by Horace Walpole in 1770; acquired in 1948 by HM Government when Sir Lyonel, 4th Bt (1854 – 1952) and Sir Cecil Tollemache, 5th Bt (1886 – 1969) presented Ham House to the National Trust, and entrusted to the care of the Victoria & Albert Museum, until 1990, when returned to the care of the National Trust, and to which ownership was transferred in 2002
Credit line
Ham House, The Dysart Collection (purchased by HM Government in 1948 and transferred to the National Trust in 2002)
Makers and roles
Joan Carlile (c.1606 - 1679), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Joan Carlile (c.1606 - 1679), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Caspar Netscher (Heidelberg 1639 – The Hague 1684), artist previously catalogued as attributed to William Dobson (bap. London 1611 - London 1646), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Daniel Mytens the elder (Delft c.1590 – The Hague 1648), artist
References
Walpole 1927-28 Paget Toynbee (ed.), 'Horace Walpole's Journals of Visits to Country Seats, etc.', 1760-62, Walpole Society XVI, 1927 -28 pp. 9-80 Waterhouse 1958 Ellis Waterhouse, The Collection of Pictures in Helmingham Hall, Helmingham Hall, 1958, p.20, no.43. Eade 2018 Jane Eade, ‘Rediscovering the 'worthy artiste Mrs Carlile’, National Trust Historic Houses & Collections Annual, 2018, pp.19-24 Conroy, Rachel, Women Artists and Designers at the National Trust, 2025, pp. 34-5
