An Unknown Child, possibly Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1640-1660)
British (English) School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1630 - 1649
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1245 x 991 mm (49 x 39 in)
Order this imageCollection
Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
NT 1129120
Caption
Of all the families whose portraits might have flowed into Hardwick Hall by 1792 - chiefly the Boyles and the Cavendishes - it only seems to have been the latter who would have had a cherished child of the right age to be depicted here, around 1640 or a little after: William Cavendish, 4th Earl and 1st Duke (1640-1707). But Hoskin's miniature of William, of 1644, at Burghley shows a child not only with different features, but with a different style of hair and dress to the infant here.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, An Unknown Child, possibly Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1640-1660), British (English) School, 1630/40s. A full-length portrait of a young child, turned to the right wearing red dress with red and white slashed sleeves and white pinafore (not yet breeched if a boy), standing beside a table, on which is a spaniel. Henry was the third son of Charles I (1600-1649) and Henrietta Maria (1609-1669). He was born at Oatlands Palace, Surrey, and was probably styled Duke of Gloucester from birth. He was made a Knight of the Garter on 4 April, 1653, and created Duke of Gloucester and Earl of Cambridge on 13 May 1659. He died on 13 or 23 September 1660 at Whitehall Palace, London and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Provenance
In Catalogue of Paintings at Hardwick [1786-1792] as Charles II and and thence by descent until, following the death of Edward William Spencer Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire (1895 - 1950), Hardwick Hall and its contents were accepted by HM Treasury in part payment of death duties and transferred to the National Trust, in 1959
Credit line
Hardwick Hall, The Devonshire Collection (acquired through the National Land Fund and transferred to The National Trust in 1959)
Marks and inscriptions
Verso: Inscribed on back of old lining canvas, in black paint: vandyke
Makers and roles
British (English) School, artist previously catalogued as attributed to Sir Anthony Van Dyck (Antwerp 1599 - London 1641), artist