Called Sir Thomas Gresham (c.1519-1579)
circle of Antonis Mor (Utrecht 1519 – Antwerp 1575)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1540 - 1575
Materials
Oil on panel
Measurements
805 x 672 x 64 mm; 6.5 kg (Weight)
Place of origin
Antwerp
Collection
Osterley Park and House, London
NT 773375
Summary
Oil painting on panel, Called Sir Thomas Gresham (c.1519-1579), circle of Antonis Mor (Utrecht 1519 – Antwerp 1575). A half-length portrait, wearing a black doublet over a fine white shirt and a flat black hat, holding a leather bag against a blue backgruond which has been overpainted. Later inscribed on the reverse: 'Sir Thomas Gresham By Holbein'. Another presumed portrait of the sitter is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. There is a similarity between the sitter and a full-length portrait of Gresham dated 1544 in the collection of the Mercer's Company, London. This portrait was possibly painted in Antwerp, where Gresham was based as Royal Agent between 1551 and 1568. Gresham purchased Osterley in 1562 and entertained Queen Elizabeth I there on at least two occasions.
Provenance
Recorded in the 1782 Osterley Park inventory, hanging in the Gallery; recorded at Osterley in 1915; in 1939 Inventory as in Breakfast Room and valued at £500; on loan from the Earldom of Jersey Trust.
Credit line
Osterley Park, The Jersey Collection
Makers and roles
circle of Antonis Mor (Utrecht 1519 – Antwerp 1575), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Hans Holbein the younger (Augsburg 1497/8 - London 1543), artist