An Unknown Lady
Spanish School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1600 - 1699
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1067 x 838 mm (42 x 33 in)
Place of origin
Spain
Order this imageCollection
Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk
NT 1210288
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, An Unknown Lady, Spanish School, 17th century. A three-quarter-length portrait of a young woman, half-turned to the left, gazing at the spectator, her right hand on a table and her left hand holding a closed fan by her side. A crimson curtain is draped above, top left of canvas. She wears a richly embroidered dress, with long stomacher and a large, open ruff. The dress fabric has a silver ground with coloured birds, flowers etc. upon it. She wears a small, matching cloak and three rows of pearls, the longest of which hangs below her waist. She has an elaborate, jewelled pin in her hair, and she wears drop-earrings and small bracelets of gold which are seen below the narrow ruffles at her wrist. Previously called Portrait of a Lady, Mary, daughter of William Lord Howard of Naworth (3rd son of 4th Duke of Norfolk), the first wife of Sir Henry Bedingfeld, 'The Cavalier', who died in 1657. White catalogue number 120 lower right.
Provenance
by descent from 1st Baronet to 9th Baronet; ?put up for sale at Christie's, 25 May 1872, lot 130, as: SPANISH Portrait of a lady, with ruff and pearl necklace (bt. [?bought in] Cox 14.10.0.); No. 120 in 1913 list, as "Curious portrait of a lady"; given to the National Trust by Sybil Lyne-Stephens, Lady Paston-Bedingfeld (1883 – 1985), 1961. Part of the Bedingfeld collection.
Makers and roles
Spanish School, artist