Sir John Harpur, 2nd Bt (1616-1669)
British (English) School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1650 - 1669
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
730 x 610 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Calke Abbey, Derbyshire
NT 290424
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Sir John Harpur, 2nd Bt (1616-1669), British (English) School, inscribed: I.H./Dec 19/1669/AE ts 53. A half-length portrait of a man, holding a bunch of bay leaves over a skull with his right hand. He wears a square white collar and black gown. His dark hair is worn long and loose. Sir John was buried in Calke Church where his portrait hung as his memorial until removed in the nineteenth-century. His hand rests on a skull, a symbol of death, while the winged hour glass, in the background on the right, and the watch and chain in the foreground allude to the brevity of life and the speed of time passing.
Provenance
Acquired with Calke Abbey's contents, with the aid of a grant provided by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, thanks to a special allocation of money from the Government and transferred in lieu of tax on the estate of Charles Jenney Harpur-Crewe (1917 - 1981) to the National Trust with the house that was given by Henry Jenney Harpur-Crewe (1921- 1991), in 1984
Credit line
Calke Abbey, The Harpur Crewe Collection (acquired by the National Trust with the help of the help of the National Heritage Memorial Fund in 1984)
Marks and inscriptions
I.H./Dec 19/1669/Aet[ati]s s[vae] 53 (inscription on painting)
Makers and roles
British (English) School, artist