Called Ruperta Howe (1673 -1740)
Willem Wissing (Amsterdam 1656 - Burghley House 1687)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1685
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1219 x 978 mm (48 x 38 ½ in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire
NT 108817
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Ruperta Howe (1673 -1740) by Willem Wissing (Amsterdam 1656 - Burghley House 1687), circa 1685. A three-quarter-length portrait, seated on a terrace, turned slightly to the right, gazing at the spectator, her right hand at her temple, her left hand caressing a pet dog, wearing a rich figured décolleté dress. Landscape background with distant view on the right. Ruperta Howe was the illegitimate daughter of Prince Rupert (1619-1682) and the actress Peg Hughes. Ruperta and was distantly connected with the Curzons, in that she married Emmanuel Scrope Howe, (d.1709), a diplomat, groom of the bedchamber to William III and younger brother of Scrope Howe, lst Viscount Howe (1648-1712), whose descendant Sophia was to marry Nathaniel Curzon, the 1st Lord Curzon’s nephew, Penn Assheton Curzon, ancestor of the Earl Howe. Nonetheless the portrait, recorded here since 1769 (and attributed to Kneller) is likely to have been acquired for historical reasons, rather than inherited.
Provenance
Recorded in Principal Dressing Room in 1769 as Kneller; bought with part of the contents of Kedleston with the aid of the National Heritage Memorial Fund in 1987 when the house and park were given to the National Trust by Francis Curzon, 3rd Viscount Scarsdale (1924-2000)
Credit line
Kedleston Hall, The Scarsdale Collection (acquired with the help of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and transferred to The National Trust in 1987)
Marks and inscriptions
label - painted - bottom of frame - black text on gold - RUPERTA HOWE DAUGHTER OF PRINCE RUPERT By Sir Godfrey Kneller
Makers and roles
Willem Wissing (Amsterdam 1656 - Burghley House 1687), artist previously catalogued as manner of Willem Wissing (Amsterdam 1656 - Burghley House 1687), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646 - London 1723), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680), artist