Called Lord Charles Cavendish (1655–1670)
British (English) School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1700 - 1799
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
730 x 595 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
NT 1129141
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Called Lord Charles Cavendish (1655–1670), British (English) School, inscribed upper right: CHARLES CAVENDISH / BROTHER TO THE 1ST / DVKE OF DEVONSHIRE. / TAKEN WHEN A SLEEP. A half-length portrait of a youth turned to the left, almost in profile, resting in a chair, reputedly asleep. The sitter has reddish brown shoulder-length hair and wears a blue coat and white shirt open at the neck. This is an 18th-century copy of a 17th-century portrait attributed to Mary Beale (1633-99) at Burghley House, Lincolnshire (inv.no. PIC153). That portrait is described in the 1793 Burghley inventory as 'a head of Mr. Charles Cavendish drawn after his death'. Charles Cavendish was the brother-in-law of John Cecil 5th Earl of Exeter (c. 1648-1700). The painting came to Burghley as part of the bequest to Cecil's wife Anne, Countess of Exeter from her mother, Elizabeth, Countess of Devonshire (1619-89). It may have been commissioned as a memento mori, as Charles Cavendish died, reputedly by drowning, at the age of fifteen. The picture is listed in the 1690 Devonshire Schedule: 'Oyle Colour pictures….A picture of Mr Charles Cavendish in a Guilt fframe by Rommee'. According to Mark Girouard. the portrait derives from a drawing of the head of a sleeping youth by the Italian painter Vincenzo Manozzi (1600-58) in the Uffizi, Florence (Mark Girouard, National Trust, Hardwick Hall, revised edition, 1999, p.66).
Provenance
In 1786/92 Hardwick catalogue; 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
in caps. upper right CHARLES CAVENDISH/BROTHER TO THE 1ST/DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE,/TAKEN WHEN A SLEEP
Makers and roles
British (English) School, artist previously catalogued as attributed to Vincenzo Mannozzi (fl. Italy 17th century), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Carlo Maratta (Camerano 1625 – Rome 1713), artist