Christian, Duke of Brunswick Wolfenbüttel (1599-1626)
after Daniel Mytens the elder (Delft c.1590 – The Hague 1648)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1624 (after) - 1699
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
673 x 533 mm (26 1/2 x 21 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
NT 1129137
Caption
Christian, Duke of Brunswick was known as the ‘Mad Halberstädter’ for being impetuous and wilful, particularly in battle. As a soldier, he upheld the cause of Frederick V of Bohemia in the Thirty Years War, but his defeat at Stadtlohn in 1623 was a disaster for the King’s cause. A year earlier he had been wounded at Fleurus and had had his arm amputated with full military honours. In this portrait he wears the blue ribbon of the Order of the Garter, which he was accorded in 1624. This picture is more sober than the likeness of him engraved by William Jacob Delff, after Miereveldt, in 1623, but this may be the result of restoration having tamed his wild hair.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Christian, Duke of Brunswick Wolfenbüttel (1599-1626), after Daniel Mytens the elder (Delft c.1590 – The Hague 1648). Bust portrait, turned slightly to the right, gazing at spectator, dressed in armour, with an embroidered sash and white ruff. He wears the blue ribbon of the Order of the Garetr which he was accorded in 1624.
Provenance
Originally at Londesborough (demolished 1819); Bolton Abbey; in Lady Louisa Cavendish 1860 catalogue of Hardwick Hall; 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 (National Trust)
Makers and roles
after Daniel Mytens the elder (Delft c.1590 – The Hague 1648), artist