Lady Mary Mordaunt, Duchess of Norfolk (1658/9-1705)
attributed to Jan van der Vaardt (Haarlem 1647 – London 1727)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1684 - 1685
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1100 x 820 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire
NT 108825
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Lady Mary Mordaunt, Duchess of Norfolk (1658/9-1705), attributed to Jan van der Vaart (Haarlem 1647 – London 1727). 1684-1685. A three-quarter-length portrait, seated in a blue dress over a white chemise, with a crimson cloak trimmed with ermine, holding a coronet on her lap, her left arm resting on a table on the right. Daughter of the 2nd Earl of Peterborough, married in 1677 to Henry Earl of Arundel, who succeeded as 7th Duke of Norfolk in 1684. He was separated from her in 1685 because of her gallantries with Sir John Germaine, but did not succeed in obtaining a divorce until 1700. This picture must have been painted between 1684 and 1685, since she is shown with a duchess's coronet, but would be unlikely to have been painted after the judicial separation. Long ascribed to an otherwise unheard-of R.W.Lovejoy, whose name was inscribed on the back (but who was probably just a restorer), this picture is much more plausibly by Wissing’s former assistant, John can der Vaart, c.1684-5. Why and when it was acquired are unclear. Daughter of the 2nd Earl of Peterborough, Lady Mary was married in 1677 to Henry, Earl of Arundel, who succeeded in 1684 as 7th Duke of Norfolk (1655-1701), but was separated from him in 1685, because of her gallantries with Sir John Germain. The Duke nonetheless did not succeed in divorcing her until 1700, allowing her to marry Sir John the next year.
Provenance
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 - MARY 7TH DUTCHESS OF NORFOLK BY R.W.LOVEJOY
Makers and roles
attributed to Jan van der Vaardt (Haarlem 1647 – London 1727), artist