Sir John Banks, Bt, of Aylesford (c.1627 - 1699)
studio of Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1670 - circa 1680
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1155 x 940 mm
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 486813
Caption
The sitter in the present portrait, can be determined from the presence of the prime version in the possession of the successive Earls of Aylesford at Packington Hall. This family was to take its title from the sitter’s seat, which they inherited. The picture came to Petworth via a family link with Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset (1662-1748). It was the 6th Duke’s refusal to issue or renew his servants’ lists of pictures in the house that created the subsequent confusions in their identities – of which the present portrait is a classic example, and one which has taken over two centuries to unravel! Sir John Banks or Bankes was the son and heir of Caleb Bankes and Martha Dann. He married Elizabeth Dethick before 1657, by whom he only had two daughters: Elizabeth, married to Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Aylesford; and Mary, married to John Savile of Methley.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Sir John Banks, Bt, of Aylesford (c.1627 - 1699), studio of Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680). A three-quarter-length portrait, standing wearing a buff coat and a cuirass. His right hand is on his hip, his left on a ledge to the right, pointing down.
Provenance
Recorded at Petworth in 1828; thence by descent, until the death in 1952 of the 3rd Lord Leconfield, who had given Petworth to the National Trust in 1947, and whose nephew and heir, John Wyndham, 6th Lord Leconfield and 1st Lord Egremont (1920-72) arranged for the acceptance of the major portion of the collections at Petworth in lieu of death duties (the first ever such arrangement) in 1956 by H.M.Treasury.
Makers and roles
studio of Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680), artist