Four Children of Sir Thomas Lucy III (1585 - 1640) and Alice Spencer (Bridget, Richard, Constance and Margaret)
British (English) School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1619 (inscribed)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1245 x 1702 mm (49 x 67 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Charlecote Park, Warwickshire
NT 533832
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Four Children of Sir Thomas Lucy III and Alice Spencer (Bridget, Richard, Constance and Margaret), English School, inscribed: ANO DONI 1619 and with respective ages of children each, in gold next to their heads: AETA tis Suae 5, 3, 2, 1. Bridget (2 years), Richard Lucy (1 year). Constance Lucy, later Lady Smith (5 years), Margaret Lucy (3 years), Constance or Constantia, the eldest child and her younger sister Margaret stand at right, holding hands, both wearing gold brocade dresses, the younger holding a flower. The baby in a wooden chair is Richard Lucy, wrapped in a red cloak. At the left stands Bridget in a gold dress and white pinafore with a robin perched on her right hand, she has stepped on the baby's red cloak. The composition is framed by a pelmet and drawn curtain. They are standing on a patterned carpet. The fabric of the dresses helped inspire the pattern of the Library wallpaper. Four of the children as recorded by the Herald's visitation in 1619. Spencer the eldest son, the twin of Margaret was presumably painted separately on his own (Harleian Society, vol. 12 [1877], p. 288). Later they had two more children: Fulke and Alice Lucy.
Provenance
Presented to the National Trust by Sir Montgomerie Fairfax-Lucy (1896 – 1965), two years after the death of his father, Sir Henry Ramsay-Fairfax, 3rd Bt (1870 – 1944), with Charlecote Park and its chief contents, in 1946.
Credit line
Charlecote Park, The Fairfax-Lucy Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
British (English) School, artist