Sir Thomas Egerton, Viscount Brackley (1540?-1617), aged 58
British (English) School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1598 (inscribed)
Materials
Oil on paper laid down on canvas
Measurements
273 x 222 mm (10 3/4 x 8 3/4 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Montacute House, Somerset
NT 597948
Summary
Oil painting on paper laid down on canvas, Sir Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley (1540?-1617), aged 58, British (English) School, 1598. A full-length portrait of Sir Thomas Egerton as an elderly man gazing at spectator, standing in an interior, his left hand resting on a table, right, his right hand gloved and holding the other glove he has a grey beard and moustache and is wearing black robes, black cap and small ruff. Wooden panelled wall across back with a stained glass window with a coat of arms to the far right, inscribed '1598' a cushioned chair behind him in the centre and in the right background a green curtain is caught up behind a stone plinth on which rests a red stone pillar the plinth is inscribed 'Aetatis Suae 58' . On a table right, covered with a grey velvet cloth with gilt fringe, is his bag of office. 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.
Provenance
Bought by Sir Malcolm Stewart. Bequest of Sir Percy Malcolm Stewart (1871-1951) to the National Trust in 1951 (transferred to Montacute House, 1960 after the death of Lady Stewart)
Credit line
Montacute House, The Malcolm Stewart Bequest (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: On plinth of column at far right: Ætatisetatis Suae 58 (ie. aged 58) Recto: Stained glass window top left inscribed under the coat of arms:1598 Recto: Across bottom of painting: What is _ _ _ that life(?) doeth have its knellgod / give but _ _ _ a life to tell.
Makers and roles
British (English) School, artist
References
Montacute House, Somerset, 1991 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 1991, p.62 "LORD CURZON'S BEDROOM PAINTINGS Sir Thomas Egerton, Viscount Brackley (1540?-1617) Lord Chancellor, 1603-17); friend of Francis Bacon. Inscribed with the age 58. See no.76. Unknown artist, 1598." Montacute House, Somerset, 1997 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 1991, revised 1997 , p.62 "LORD CURZON'S ROOM PAINTINGS Sir Thomas Egerton, Viscount Brackley (1540?-1617) Lord Chancellor, 1603-17); friend of Francis Bacon. Inscribed with the age 58. See no.76. Unknown artist, 1598." Montacute House, Somerset, 2004-2006 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 2000, revised 2004, reprinted 2005, 2006, p.50 "LORD CURZON'S ROOM PAINTINGS Sir Thomas Egerton, Viscount Brackley (1540?-1617) Lord Chancellor, 1603-17); friend of Francis Bacon. Inscribed with the age 58. See no.76. Unknown artist, 1598."