Sir Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley (1540?-1617)
British (English) School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1596 (between) - 1603
Materials
Oil on panel
Measurements
1092 x 838 mm (43 x 33 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Montacute House, Somerset
NT 597946
Summary
Oil painting on panel, Sir Thomas Egerton, 1st Baron Ellesmere and 1st Viscount Brackley (1540?-1617), British (English) School, after the original between 1596 and 1603. A three-quarter-length portrait of Sir Thomas Egerton as an elderly man, standing, turned slightly to the left, gazing at spectator, holding a letter in his right hand addressed to 'The Hon Sr Thos. Egerton Knight'. He has grey hair, grey moustache and grey beard, wearing a black robe with white ruff and black high-crowned hat, his left hand on a chair/stick his bag of office is shown on the left. With his seal bag as Lord Keeper to Elizabeth I, whose arms and initials it bears . He was both her and James I's confidant, and patron and friend of Francis Bacon. Potraits of him are often found because - unusually for a lawyer- he was generally popular - except with the adherents of Sir Edward Coke, against whose promotion of the Common Law and its courts, he maintained the supremacy of the Law of Equity. He was the natural son, born in 1540 of Sir Richard Egerton and Alice Sparke. He married, firstly Elizabeth Ravenscroft, daughter of Thomas Ravenscroft and Catharine Grosvenor, before 1576; secondly Elizabeth More, daughter of Sir William More and Margaret Daniell in around 1596 and, thirdly, Alice Spencer, daughter of Sir John Spencer and Katherine Kitson, on 20 October 1600.He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford and was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1572. Solicitor-General 1581-1592. MP for Cheshire between 1584 and 1587. Treasurer of Lincoln's Inn,1587. Took part in the trial of Mary Queen of Scots and of the Earl of Essex. Attorney-General 1592-1594. Master of the Rolls 1594-1603. Chamberlain of Chester 1594-1603.He was invested as a Knight on 18 May 1594.Privy Counsellor on 6 May 1596. Lord Keeper 1596-1603. On 18 December 1598 he inherited the estate of Tatton, Chester (and others) from Richard Brereton (his brother-in-law). He was created 1st Baron of Ellesmere on 21 July 1603. Lord Chancellor 1603-1616/17. Lord High Steward 1603, for the trial of peers. Lord-Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire 1607-1616. Chancellor of Oxford University 1610-1617. Lord High Steward 1616. Created 1st Viscount Brackley 1616. Wrote 'Privileges of Prerogative of the High Court of Chancery'. The children of Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley and Elizabeth Ravenscroft were: the Hon. Mary Egerton, Sir Thomas Egerton (before 1579-1599), John Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgwater (1579-1649). He died on 15 March 1616/17 at York House, Whitehall, London, England. He was buried on 10 April 1617 at Doddleston, Chester. Sir Thomas Egerton was a patron and contemporary of Sir Edward Phelips I.
Provenance
On loan from the Phelips family since 1931; purchased with the aid of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the V&A Museums and Galleries Commission Purchase Grant Fund in 1989.
Credit line
Montacute House, The Phelips Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: Small gilt tablet affixed to bottom centre of frame, inscribed
Makers and roles
British (English) School, artist
References
Montacute House, Somerset, 1991 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 1991, p.58 "THE PARLOUR PASSAGE EAST (RIGHT-HAND) WALL Sir Thomas Egerton, Viscount Brackley (1540?-1617) Lord Chancellor, 1603-17; with his seal bag as Lord Keeper to Elizabeth I, whose arms and initials it bears. (see No.76) Unknown artist, between 1596-1603)." Montacute House, Somerset, 1997 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 1991, revised 1997 , p.57 "THE PARLOUR PASSAGE EAST (RIGHT-HAND) WALL Sir Thomas Egerton, Viscount Brackley (1540?-1617) Lord Chancellor, 1603-17; with his seal bag as Lord Keeper to Elizabeth I, whose arms and initials it bears. (see No.76) Unknown artist, between 1596-1603)." Montacute House, Somerset, 2004-2006 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 2000, revised 2004, reprinted 2005, 2006, p.45 "THE PARLOUR PASSAGE EAST (RIGHT-HAND) WALL Sir Thomas Egerton, Viscount Brackley (1540?-1617) Lord Chancellor, 1603-17; with his seal bag as Lord Keeper to Elizabeth I, whose arms and initials it bears. (see No.76) Unknown artist, between 1596-1603)."