Lady Mary Villiers, Lady Herbert and later Duchess of Lennox and Richmond (1622-1685), as St Agnes
studio of Sir Anthony Van Dyck (Antwerp 1599 - London 1641)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1600 - 1699
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
2083 x 1296 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Lacock, Wiltshire
NT 996277
Caption
The original painting, in the Royal Collection, Windsor, was presumably painted for Charles I, who gave the sitter away at her wedding in 1637 to the Duke of Lennox. She is shown as St Agnes, the patroness of those engaged to be married. St Agnes is usually accompanied by a lamb, because of the similarity of her name to the Latin agnus, a lamb, but actually ‘Agnes’ comes from the Greek word for ‘chaste’. It has been pointed out that she looks older than the fifteen years old that she would have been the year of her marriage, and that the cold tonality is more typical of Van Dyck’s later work. Lady Mary Villiers was the daughter of 1st Duke of Buckingham and Katherine Manners, and raised with the royal children, she was a favourite of James I and Charles I. She was married three times.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Lady Mary Villiers, Lady Herbert and later Duchess of Lennox and Richmond (1622 – 1685), as St Agnes, after Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641). A full-length portrait of the daughter of 1st Duke of Buckingham and Katherine Manners, and sister of Lord George and Lord Francis Villiers The original is in the Royal Collection at Windsor.
Full description
Oil painting on canvas, Lady Mary Villiers, Lady Herbert and later Duchess of Lennox and Richmond (1622 – 1685), as St Agnes, studio of Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641). Daughter of 1st Duke of Buckingham and Katherine Manners, and sister of Lord George and Lord Francis Villiers. Raised with the royal children, she was a favourite of James I and Charles I, and in 1626 she was betrothed to Charles Herbert, son of Philip, who subsequently succeeded as 4th Earl of Pembroke. They were married on 8 January 1635, but Herbert died a year later, leaving a 13 year-old widow. Her second marriage was to James Stuart, Duke of Lennox (afterwards Duke of Richmond), a cousin of Charles I, on 3 August 1637. Richmond died in 1655, and Mary left for the exiled royalist community in Paris. After the restoration she returned to the English court and became Lady of the Bedchamber to the dowager Queen, Henrietta Maria. In 1664 she was married to Colonel Thomas Howard (d. 1678), brother of 1st Earl of Carlisle. She died in 1685 and was buried in Westminster Abbey [see entry by Karen Hearn in Van Dyck and Britain, exh. Cat., Tate, no.34, p.93]. The original in the Royal Collection was presumably painted for Charles I, who gave her away at her wedding in 1637 to the Duke of Lennox. A portrait historié of the sitter painted before the wedding would have been appropriate, given that St Agnes is the patroness of those engaged to be married. It has been pointed out, however, that she does look older than the fifteen years old that she would have been that year, and that the cold tonality is typical of Van Dyck’s later work (O. Millar in Van Dyck A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven & London, 2004, IV.205, p.590-1). The copy in the Craven collection is inscribed with the date 1640, although this is probably a later addition. The original in the Royal Collection at Windsor (186.7 x 137.2 cm) was noted in the Gallery at St. James’s Palace by Van der Doort in his inventory, as a “Peece of the Dutchesse of Lenox before shee was married By Sr. Anthony vandike’ (O. Millar ed., 'Abraham van der Doort's Catalogue of the Collections of Charles I', Walpole Society, vol.37, 1960, p.227); there is a version at Welbeck, without the lamb and the palm, and with flowers strewn on a table; copies are at Castle Howard, Bowhill, with the Barber-Surgeon’s Company, and Elmore Court (on a small scale); there is a miniature by Jean Petiot, of 1643, adapted from this composition (now in the National-Museum, Stockholm).
Provenance
Given by Matilda Theresa Talbot (formerly Gilchrist-Clark) (1871 – 1958), who gave the Abbey, the village of Lacock and the rest of the estate to the National Trust in 1944, along with 96 of the family portraits and other pictures, in 1948
Credit line
Lacock Abbey, The Talbot Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
studio of Sir Anthony Van Dyck (Antwerp 1599 - London 1641), artist Sir Anthony Van Dyck (Antwerp 1599 - London 1641), artist