Sir Orlando Bridgeman, 1st Bt (1609-74)
Pieter Borsselaer (Middelburg 1632 - Goes 1692)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1670
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1630 x 1240 x 45 mm
Order this imageCollection
Chirk Castle, Wrexham
NT 1171152
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, 1st Bt (1609-74) by Pieter Borsselaer (fl.Middelburg 1664-1687), circa 1670. A three-quarter length portrait, seated, turned three-quarters to left, wearing robes as Lord Keeper; the purse at the left, with its tassel but with the first two fingers of his proper right hand; his gloves held in his left hand, resting on the chair-arm. Keeper of the Great Seal; father of Charlotte, Lady Myddelton, and ancestor of the Earls of Badford, hence the oval version of this work at Weston Park. Thomas Pennant noted in 1773 this portrait of the Lord Keeper 'in his robes, and with lank hair'. According to Pennant, he 'presided over two courts of justice with the most amiable character.'
Provenance
by inheritance from the sitter's son-in-law, Sir Thomas IV Myddelton, 2nd Bt (1651 - 1684); according to Loveday, 1773, in the Gallery, "among other paintings one of Lord Keeper Bridgeman sitting.";with some of the contents, in 1978, that were acquired along with Chirk Castle from Lt-Col Ririd Myddelton (1902–1988) by the National Land Fund and handed, on loan for 99 years, to the Secretary of State for Wales (In 1981 Chirk was transferred into the ownership of the National Trust); accepted by the Inland Revenue in lieu of Inheritance Tax from the estate of Lt-Col Ririd Myddelton (1902–1988) and transferred to the National Trust for display to the public at Chirk Castle in 1999
Credit line
Chirk Castle, The Myddelton Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Pieter Borsselaer (Middelburg 1632 - Goes 1692) , artist
References
Markham 1984 S. Markham (ed.) John Loveday of Caversham (1733), Wilton 1984 , p. 155 Pennant, 1773: Thomas Pennant, Tours in Wales, 1773, p. 369 Steegman 1957 John Steegman, A Survey of Portraits in Welsh Houses, Vol.I: North Wales, Cardiff, 1957, p. 85, no.14 Chirk Castle, 1967: Catalogue of Pictures and Works of Art in the State Rooms, Pilgrim Press, 1967, p.[6], no.59 Chirk Castle, 1983: [National Trust, Richard Dean] 1983 , p. 61 Chirk Castle, 2003: [National Trust] 2003, p. 16 Chirk Castle Picture List [National Trust] 2005, no. 59