Unknown Woman
Corneille de Lyon (The Hague 1500/10 – Lyon 1575)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1535 - 1540
Materials
Oil on panel (possibly limewood)
Measurements
203 x 165 mm (8 x 6 1/2 in)
Order this imageCollection
Polesden Lacey, Surrey
NT 1246455
Caption
The identity of the sitter in this exquisite portrait is unknown although she is almost certainly one of the noblewomen who attended upon the French royal family when the court was at Lyon in the later 1530s. The costume is relatively simple although the picture is distinguished by the inclusion of the sitter’s modestly folded hands and the presence of a green, gold-embroidered curtain; both unusual features in portraits by this artist.
Summary
Oil painting on (possibly limewood) panel, Unknown Woman by Corneille de Lyon (The Hague 1500/10 – Lyons 1575), circa 1535 - 40. A half-length portrait of a young lady, turned slightly to the left and gazing to the left, wearing a dark green bodice edged with gold at the neck, full white sleeves, pearl and gold necklace and gold chain, white and gold headdress.
Provenance
Possibly Ignazio Enrico Hugford (1703-78); 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751 -1837); Lord Leconfield (1787 – 1869): can probably be identified with an unattributed "Portrait of a Lady - small" in the Marble Hall, with the number 172, in Henry Wyndham Phillips's ms. catalogue of the pictures at Petworth in 1835, and pendant with Lady with a Rosary by Lucas van Leyden recorded in the 1856 printed catalogue of pictures at Petworth (No. 173) in the same location; bought by Agnew & Sons in 1927 and sold to Mrs Greville in the same year. Bequeathed in 1942 by Margaret Helen Greville DBE (1863-1942) to the National Trust, along with the Polesden Lacey Estate in memory of her father William McEwan MP (1827-1913). [The probate inventory of January 1943 shows this item found on the record for Polesden Lacey pictures, drawings etc., stored in the cellar, page 174.]
Credit line
Polesden Lacey, The McEwan Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Fr Godolphin May 4 (inscribed on reverse in fine black ink, part of inscription on reverse may be covered by Agnew label)
Makers and roles
Corneille de Lyon (The Hague 1500/10 – Lyon 1575), artist previously catalogued as style of Corneille de Lyon (The Hague 1500/10 – Lyon 1575), artist