Elizabeth Sydenham, Lady Drake, later Lady Courtenay (d.1598)
George Gower (c.1540 - London 1596)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1585
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1270 x 1016 mm
Order this imageCollection
Buckland Abbey, Devon
NT 810042
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Elizabeth Sydenham, Lady Drake, later Lady Courtenay (d.1598) by George Gower (c.1540 – London 1596), 1585. A three-quarter-length portrait of Elizabeth Sydenham, painted at the time of her marriage to Drake. She is standing against a dark ground with brown drapes and fashionably dressed in a black and silver gown of pleated silk with a large starched circular ruff and sleeves of the same drawn thread linen. Heavily bejewelled she is wearing pearl earrings, pearl decorated diadem and necklace and also a locket containing Queen Elizabeth's portrait in miniature.
Provenance
In preference to her brother-in-law Lady Drake bequeathed the portrait together with one of Sir Francis and the 'Armada' portrait of Queen Elizabeth to the Drake family of Ash. The Ash estate was eventually inherited by Francis Drake of Esher whose descendants inherited Shardeloes in Buckinghamshire, the seat of the Tothills, whose heiress he had married. This branch of the family and its heirs the Tyrhitt-Drakes took Shardeloes as their main seat; Sale of Shardeloes, Drake heirlooms Christie's, 1957; purchased by Mr Jack Gold; placed on loan to the Tate Gallery; on long-term loan to Buckland Abbey, 1968. Sale at Sotheby's 1976; purchased by Plymouth City Museum;on loan to Buckland Abbey
Makers and roles
George Gower (c.1540 - London 1596), artist Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (Bruges 1561/2 - London 1636), artist