Called Elizabeth Spencer, Lady Craven (1618-1672)
Anglo-Dutch School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1650
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
800 x 629 mm (31 1/2 x 24 3/4 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Powis Castle and Garden, Powys
NT 1180919
Caption
This portrait is thought to depict Elizabeth Spencer, daughter of the 2nd Lord Spencer. It is presumably at Powis because the sitter’s sister-in-law, Elizabeth Craven, was the wife of Percy, 2nd Baron Powis. Its style is in the manner of Gerard van Honthorst, who was invited to England by Charles I in 1628 and subsequently painted portraits of members of the Royal family and other figures associated with the English court.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Called Elizabeth Spencer, Lady Craven (1618-1672), Anglo-Dutch School, in the manner of Gerard van Honthorst (1592-1656). A half-length portrait of a young woman wearing a blue-grey dress with low neckline and full sleeves, a pearl necklace and pearl drop earrings. The sitter gazes ahead, and holds in her hands a wreath of red roses. Believed to be a marital portrait either of Elizabeth Spencer, daughter of the second Lord Spencer and wife of John, Lord Craven of Ryton, or possibly Lady Elizabeth Somerset (c.1633-1691), Countess of Powis, as a young woman, painted before her marriage to the future 1st Marquess/Duke of Powis in 1654.
Provenance
Accepted by HM Treasury on 21st March, 1963 in lieu of tax and conveyed to National Trust ownership on 29th November 1963
Credit line
Powis Castle, The Powis Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Anglo-Dutch School, artist previously catalogued as manner of Gerrit van Honthorst (Utrecht 1590 – Utrecht 1656), artist
References
Steegman 1957 John Steegman, A Survey of Portraits in Welsh Houses, Vol.I: North Wales, Cardiff, 1957, no. 19