Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland KG (1564-1632), accoutred for the Dutch War
British (English) School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1602
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
2121 x 1016 mm (83 ½ x 40 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 486288
Caption
This picture is inscribed: HOS SEMPER CUM RES POSTULAT ISTA SEQVOR (I always do what the occasion demands) Henry Algernon alias Percy Earl of / Northumberland, Knight of the Noble Order of / Garter drawne in the loe Contres 1602 / while hee served in this warrs. Henry Percy was engaged in military activity around and in the siege of Ostend between June 1600 and January 1601. A possible explanation for the 9th Earl having had himself portrayed in campaign gear, and for the apparent misdating of the picture, is that it was painted as a kind of manifesto, to refute the charge of Sir Francis Vere, the commander of the English auxiliary forces in the Netherlands, that he had squandered money upon his attire that would have been better spent upon extra recruits; and that it was indeed painted – not in the Low Countries, but in England – in 1602.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland KG (1564-1632), British (English) School, inscribed lower centre: HOS SEMPER CUM RES POSTULAT ISTA SEQVOR [I always do what the occasion demands]. Henry Algernon alias Percy Earl of / Northumberland, Knight of the Noble Order of / Garter drawne in the loe Contres 1602 / while hee served in this warrs. A full-length portrait, standing, full face with his right hand on a table and his left on his hip, with an oval Garter badge on a dark brown ribbon. He wears a large black hat, buff patterned doublet, top boots and spurs and a deep linen flounce to full breeches. On the table is a silver writing casket.
Provenance
Recorded at Northumberland House in 1671 and at Petworth in c.1730. 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)
Marks and inscriptions
Henry Algernon alias Percy Earl of Northumberland, Knight of the Noble Order of Garter drawne in the loe Contres 1602 while hee served in this warrs (inscription reproduced exactly from Collins Baker)
Makers and roles
British (English) School, artist