Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset KG (1662-1748) and an Unidentified Child Attendant
John Closterman (Osnabrück 1660 - London 1711)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1690 - 1692 (payment)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
2075 x 1440 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 486185
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset K.G. (1662-1748) and an Unidentified Child Attendant by John Closterman (Osnabrück 1660 – London 1711), circa 1690/92. Two full-length portraits, both standing, the Duke turned slightly to the right, gazing at the spectator, wearing Garter robes, his right hand on his hip, his left hand pointing to a young attendant dressed in green, on the right, who carries his plumed hat. A dog sits on the right looking up at him. Background: arch to right, curtain to left. Note on the Unidentified Attendant: That the attendant is a child of African descent suggests he may be enslaved. It is not known if the child was included by the artist as a trope or as a portrait of a real individual.
Provenance
Commissioned by the 6th Duke of Somerset (1662-1748) from the artist, payment being made on 29 December 1692 of £80 for the portraits of the Duke and for full lengths of his sisters. Thence by descent, until the death in 1952 of the 3rd Lord Leconfield, who had given Petworth to the National Trust in 1947, and whose nephew and heir, John Wyndham, 6th Lord Leconfield and 1st Lord Egremont (1920-72) arranged for the acceptance of the major portion of the collections at Petworth in lieu of death duties (the first ever such arrangement) in 1956 by H.M.Treasury.
Credit line
Petworth House, The Egremont Collection (acquired in lieu of tax by HM Treasury in 1956 and subsequently transferred to the National Trust)
Makers and roles
John Closterman (Osnabrück 1660 - London 1711), artist
References
Ingamells, 2009: John Ingamells, Later Stuart Portraits 1685-1714, National Portrait Gallery, London, 2009, pp. 257-258