Sir John Glynne (1603-66)
studio of Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1655
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1264 x 1010 mm (49 ¾ x 39 ¾ in)
Order this imageCollection
Penrhyn Castle, Gwynedd
NT 1421748
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Sir John Glynne (1603-66), studio of Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680). A three-quarter-length portrait of the Chief Justice at the time of Cromwell, wearing a white robe lined with red, and the Sergeant’s coif, at Hawarden. Sir John Glynne was MP for Westminster in the Short and Long Parliaments. A Puritan, he became in 1655 Sergeant to the Protector and Chief Justice of the Upper Bench. The desire for self-advancement, which appears to have been his most striking characteristic, left no room for scruples; he ended his life with a knighthood and the post of King's Ancient Sergeant. When he was trampled by his horse in Charles Il's Coronation parade in 1661, Pepys noted that `people do please themselves to see how just God is to punish the rogue'. His daughter, Frances, married Sir Robert Williams, end Bt of Penrhyn. The second wife of the 2nd Lord Penrhyn, Jessy Glynne of Hawarden, was also a descendant.
Provenance
Inherited or given to the sitter's son-in-law, Sir Robert Williams, 2nd Bt (c. 1629 - 1680); possibly passed thereafter with Penrhyn or Cochwillan; thence by descent to Hugh Napier Douglas Pennant, 4th Baron Penrhyn of Llangedai (1894 – 1949), who left Penryhn and its estates to his niece, Lady Janet Marcia Rose Pelham (1923 - 1997), who with her husband John Charles Harper, thereupon assumed the name of Douglas Pennant, and in 1951 made over the castle and part of its contents in lieu of death-duties to HM Treasury (from the estate of Hugh, 4th Baron Penrhyn (1894 – 1949), which transferred them to the National Trust
Credit line
Penrhyn Castle, The Douglas Pennant Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
studio of Sir Peter Lely (Soest 1618 – London 1680), artist
References
Steegman 1957 John Steegman, A Survey of Portraits in Welsh Houses, Vol.I: North Wales, Cardiff, 1957, no. 27