Called Elizabeth Dobyns, Mrs Ashe Windham (1693-1735/6) but possibly Sarah Hicks, Mrs William II Windham (1710 - 1792)
Thomas Bardwell (East Anglia 1704 – Norwich 1767)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1709 - 1717
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1420 x 1020 mm
Order this imageCollection
Felbrigg, Norfolk
NT 1401175
Caption
The identity of the sitter in this portrait has always been a matter of some debate, partly due to the over-restoration of the painting. From the dress, we can date the picture to the 1740s, and a young woman has been represented. Therefore, if the sitter is Elizabeth Dobyns, who died in 1735/6, she cannot have been painted from life. It has been suggested that the sitter might instead be Sarah Hicks, who married William Windham as her second husband, in 1750, but she, too, would have been distinctly older than the woman portrayed here. The picture is set into one of the stucco surrounds of the Dining Room at Felbrigg.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Called Elizabeth Dobyns, Mrs Ashe Windham (1693-1735/6) but possibly Sarah Hicks, Mrs William II Windham (1710 - 1792), attributed to Thomas Bardwell (East Anglia 1704 – Norwich 1767). A three-quarter -length standing portrait facing forward, she is wearing a grey silk dress and holds a book. Ashe Windham married Elizabeth Dobyns in 1709, on the rebound after the death of Hester Buckworth; they lived apart after the birth of William II in 1717. Perhaps a posthumous commission from William II after the death of his father in 1749, so as to have both parents represented in the classic room for portraits in the house.
Provenance
?the picture of Mrs Windham listed on its own in the North Dressing room in 1771. Part of the Windham Collection. The hall and contents were bequeathed to the National Trust in 1969 by Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer (1906-1969)
Makers and roles
Thomas Bardwell (East Anglia 1704 – Norwich 1767), publisher