John Maitland, Duke of Lauderdale (1616-1682) in Garter Robes
Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1672 - 1677
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1219 x 976 mm (48 x 38 1/2 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Ham House, Surrey
NT 1139952
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, John Maitland, Duke of Lauderdale (1616-1682) in Garter Robes by Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680), circa 1672. A three-quarter-length portrait of a man turned to the left, gazing at the spectator, his right arm resting on a ledge his left arm by his side, wearing a large brown wig and dressed in Garter robes with his coronet on the ledge on the left, drapes forming the background. He was known as 'Red John' because of his colouring and a contemporary described how 'his tongue [was] too big for his mouth, which made him bedew all that he talked to'. He was one Charles II's leading advisors and Secretary of State for Scotland, between 1661 to 1680, virtually ruling the country on the king's behalf but his corrupt methods and imperious behaviour eventually led to his downfall. Following the death of his first wife, Lady Anne Home, in 1671, he married Elizabeth Murray, Countess of Dysart in 1672.
Provenance
In 1677 inventory and thence by descent until acquired in 1948 by HM Government when Sir Lyonel, 4th Bt (1854 – 1952) and Sir Cecil Tollemache, 5th Bt (1886 – 1969) presented Ham House to the National Trust, and entrusted to the care of the Victoria & Albert Museum, until 1990, when returned to the care of the National Trust, and to which ownership was transferred in 2002
Credit line
Ham House, The Dysart Collection (purchased by HM Government in 1948 and transferred to the National Trust in 2002)
Makers and roles
Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Benedetto Gennari the Younger (1633 - 1715), artist
Exhibition history
Kwab, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2018