Thomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin (1599-1663)
after Cornelius Johnson (London 1593 - Utrecht 1661)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1620 - 1663
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
724 x 610 mm (28 1/2 x 24 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Dunham Massey, Cheshire
NT 932274
Caption
The sitter was the third son of Edward Bruce, 1st Baron Bruce of Kinloss (1549?-1611). He succeeded his elder brother in the Scottish Baronetcy in 1613, following the death of his father in a duel with Edward Sackville (1590-1652), later 4th Earl of Dorset. He was created Earl of Elgin in 1633, having attended the King into Scotland that year. In 1622, he married, as his first wife, Anne Chichester (1605-27), the only daughter of Sir Robert Chichester of Raleigh in Devon. He married as his second wife, in 1629, Diana Cecil (c.1603-54), who was the sister-in-law of Henry Grey, 1st Earl of Stamford (1599-1673). His great-grandson, the 4th Earl, came into the ownership of Dunham Massey when he married Lady Mary Booth. This portrait is a copy of the head and shoulders of the full length at the Ranger’s House, Blackheath.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Thomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin (1599 - 1663), after Cornelius Johnson (London 1593 - Utrecht 1661). A painted oval head-and-shoulders portrait of a man, turned slightly to the right, gazing at the spectator, dressed in black with white lawn collar with tassels, natural ginger shoulder-length hair. The 1st Earl of Elgin married Diana Cecil, a sister in law of the 1st Earl of Stamford.
Provenance
Bequeathed to the National Trust with the house, estate and all the contents of Dunham Massey by Roger Grey,10th Earl of Stamford (1896 - 1976)
Credit line
Dunham Massey, The Stamford Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
(labelled)
Makers and roles
after Cornelius Johnson (London 1593 - Utrecht 1661), artist